Tourism Data Leadership Group
The Tourism Data Leadership Group (TDLG) was established to facilitate the provision of consistent, reliable, and trusted tourism data and insights that enables improved understanding to support better decision making, long-term value gains and sustainability for the benefit of all New Zealanders.
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About the Tourism Data Leadership Group
The Tourism Data Leadership Group (TDLG) was established in June 2022 to facilitate the provision of consistent, reliable, and trusted tourism data and insights that enables better decision-making and understanding of long-term value gains and sustainability of the tourism sector.
The TDLG's membership term expired in June 2025.
The following data products were contracted for delivery, following the TDLG's recommendations:
- industry administered hospitality and restaurant spending insights
- an analysis of the economic impact of multi-day business events
- 3 new MBIE data sets - Tourism volumes and flows, Domestic visitor survey and Tourism sentiment survey.
Tourism data remains a priority for government and is being considered through the Tourism PolicyStatement, released in June 2026.
Purposes and objectives
The purpose of the Group was to create a collaborative forum to identify information needs of the diverse set of tourism data user (industry, central and local government, communities, iwi interest groups, academics, and commentators), communicate those needs to the wide range of stakeholders, and support the implementation of possible solutions, including the provision of data and insights to users.
The core purpose and key objectives of the Group are outlined in the Terms of Reference.
Membership
The TDLG comprised of 6 members highly regarded in their respective fields with a wealth of experience across academia, government and the tourism industry. Steve Armitage (former Chief Executive, Hospitality New Zealand) was appointed co-chair of the Group. The TDLG's membership term expired in June 2025.
The full list of members and their positions during their TDLG membership are below.
| Member | Position(s) during TDLG membership term |
|---|---|
| Steve Armitage, Group co-chair | Chief Executive, Hospitality New Zealand |
| Dr Susanne Becken | Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University, Australia |
| Justin Kimberley | Head of Business Growth, Insights and Innovation at Rotorua NZ |
| David Perks | Chair of Regional Tourism New Zealand and Commercial Development Manager at Tākina (Wellington City Council) |
| Wiremu Stone Tribal affiliation: Ngāi Tahu and Ngātiwai |
Head of Shared Services, Company Secretary and Accountant for Whale Watch Kaikōura Limited |
| Bruce Bassett | Chief Advisor at Tourism Industry Aotearoa |
Publications
The following documents have been published by the TDLG.
Strategic Business Plan 2024-2025
The Tourism Data Leadership Group’s (TDLG) 2-year Strategic Business Plan provided a blueprint for the immediate future of the tourism data system.
The Plan provided a clear roadmap for how the full $5 million of the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) committed to improving the tourism data system is to be spent. It primarily focused on investing into foundational data gaps and working towards setting up appropriate oversight and stable funding. The Minister for Tourism and Hospitality endorsed the plan.
Ara Whānui 2-year road map [PDF 68KB]
The finalised Plan considered feedback following the consultation on a draft version in early 2024. 19 submissions were received from a range of stakeholders across the tourism data system.
Summary of consultation feedback on draft Strategic Business Plan
Interim Action Plan 2023
The Interim Action Plan presents the TDLG’s near term initiatives from the initial report (see below), while developing its strategy and investment approach that will be consulted in early 2024.
The Interim Action Plan signals to stakeholders the importance of delivering quality data in relation to Māori and tourism and regenerative tourism, and addressing key regional and domestic data gaps.
TDLG initial report
The initial report delivered in December 2022 outlines the key milestones the Group achieved in the first 6 months. The report also covers the state of the current tourism data system for context and an initial package of recommendations for the implementation phase of TDLG.
Tourism Data Leadership Group Initial Report
The report was delivered to MBIE, and then to the Minister of Tourism in December 2022. It was also circulated to other government agencies for further feedback.
Summary of feedback for the TDLG report
MBIE has published this report to allow the industry to read the evaluation and recommendations produced by the TDLG. Subsequent feedback from industry will be updated here.
Survey
In October 2022, the TDLG conducted a short industry survey. Some of the key survey fundings were:
- Internal company systems are the most common primary source of data and insight (36%).
- Tourism New Zealand is the most common secondary source (56%).
- Combining primary and secondary data sources, internal systems, Tourism New Zealand, and Tourism Industry Aotearoa were all used by over 50% of respondents.
- On average, people were 6.1 out of 10 satisfied with the publicly available tourism data and insights, with timeliness getting the lowest score of 5.7 out of 10.
- Not surprisingly, larger businesses are more confident about their ability to interpret the data.
- Four suggested areas for improvement stood out.
- When asked what one change they could make to the tourism data system, the top choice was centralised data.
The 4 most notable areas for suggested improvement were:
- Regional tourism volumes and flows
- International arrivals and spend forecasts
- Visitor profile modelling
- Regional tourism forecasts
Read the full results of the survey: