New project to better under understand tourists' needs

Otago MP David Parker welcomed today's announcement of a tourism data gathering partnership between the Ministry of Tourism, Tourism New Zealand and Destination Queenstown.

"Tourism is continuing to grow rapidly in our region. Information gathered through this project will help the district plan for the impact, advantages and challenges caused by tourism and ensure we are meeting their expectations and needs," David Parker said.

Announcing the project, Tourism Minister Mark Burton said the research would address a gap in the tourism sector, which has not looked into international and domestic customer-oriented information at a regional level.

The project involves the development of a regional data collection system to measure visitor's travel motivations, expectations, behaviour and satisfaction.

The initial agreement is for three years and will begin next month.

"This is another positive development for tourism and another example of this Labour-led Government's partnership approach to developing tourism," David Parker said.

"Tourism is very important to our local economy and to the and to the national economy, with annual export earnings of $7.4 billion

Tourism has become a huge success story under this Labour-led government. International visitor numbers have increased by 46% since 1999 when we came to office. Their spending increased 78% from 1999 to June 2005. This government has worked closely with the tourism sector to encourage the growth we have all benefited from."

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