This week MBIE announced that it was temporarily suspending the MRTES (Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates) which were produced by Data Ventures, a branch of Stats NZ. Data Ventures was disestablished in December.

TIA Chief Executive Rebecca Ingram believes the MRTES are an important indicator of regional tourism activity, and that it is imperative that MBIE and Stats NZ establish a new way of delivering this data as quickly as possible.

“We are seeing an erosion of core tourism data sets, and this news heightens our concern that we are going backwards."

Ms Ingram said tourism data needed strong and enduring support so that the industry could be informed in making the vast number of decisions it made every year, whether policy, investment, operational, sustainability, and more. "Every one of these decisions needs data.”

She noted that the Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey had told media he was disappointed about the suspension and continued to work with officials to support the industry.