The Tourism Information and Data Hui

Data is a key priority in the New Zealand-Aotearoa Government Tourism Strategy.

The purpose of the Tourism Information and Data Hui was ‘together, set a path towards a collaborative dynamic tourism data system that generates value’. 

The Hui brought together about 80 people from central and local government, regional tourism organisations, industry and other members of the tourism insight and data community to:

  • collectively understand each other’s information needs
  • consider existing opportunities within the system
  • imagine what a collaborative dynamic data system should look like. 

Co-design, collaboration and co-creation were the strong focus at the Hui. Participants actively discussed their key information and data needs, how they can help build a collaborative data system, and opportunities a collaborative system could deliver. Participants also made a wide range of offers of data and identified several possibilities of leveraging existing data.

The Tourism Data Hui Playback document captures the key themes of the day and includes the solution and next steps canvases completed by participants.

The Hui materials were analysed and have informed next steps. Key ideas that surfaced on the day were:

  • a system that actively promotes and supports collaboration;
  • addressing some key data gaps, including regional/local insights, domestic tourism, environmental and social indicators, and Māori tourism offerings.

Hui participants were also encouraged to take advantage of the offers posted during the day to start exploring new ways of meeting their data needs. The intention was to build on the spirit of collaboration from the day.

The Hui was a step in the journey and not a one-off conversation. Since the Hui, we have collaborated with the industry and will continue to work together to develop the tourism information and data system and its components that benefit us all and help us deliver the Tourism Strategy.

Next steps

As part of its stewardship role for the tourism data system, MBIE partnered with the sector to focus on the following areas:

  • Establishing a cross-sector steering group to support the next developments in the tourism data system.
  • Developing a digital platform to encourage collaboration and data sharing across the sector. Improving sharing and publication of tourism-relevant data across Central Government agencies.
  • Exploring possibilities to create or improve key data sets and agree on options with the sector for ongoing provisions.
  • Measuring and monitoring sustainable tourism impacts, including creating a dashboard to support sector use of the information.

Informal working group

An informal working group of central and local government, academic and industry representatives from across the tourism sector shaped the Hui. The group looked at the tourism data system both in terms of what it needs to deliver and how it could be set up to create an dynamic system, that can respond to changing needs and opportunities.

Supporting information for the Hui

The group prepared a conversation starter document that presented their work over the months leading into the Hui:

Hui conversation starter [PDF, 1.2 MB]

For those who wanted to dive a little deeper, MBIE created a map of the customer journey, how that generates data, and who owns that information:

Tourism data custom journey maps [XLSX, 210 KB]

Last updated: 30 June 2021