Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates user guidance
This user guidance explains the methodology, data sources, and limitations of the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates to support stakeholders' understanding and decision-making related to tourism expenditure.
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Purpose and background
The Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (MRTEs) estimate total visitor spending, using large scale, anonymised electronic card transaction data combined with official statistics. They are designed to fill data gaps that help stakeholders understand the economic value, and spending patterns, of both domestic and international visitors.
The MRTEs can be used by stakeholders to:
- Monitor tourism performance over time, including monthly changes in spending.
- Compare regions and destinations, supporting regional planning and investment decisions.
- Understand industry impacts, such as how visitor spending is distributed across sectors.
- Support policy development and evaluation, using timely and consistent evidence.
- Complement other tourism datasets, such as visitor volumes and accommodation data, to build a fuller picture of tourism activity.
The MRTEs were developed by Marketview for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The MRTEs replace the interim Tourism Electronic Card Transactions (TECT) series. The new estimates use an improved methodology and will now be released monthly on an ongoing basis.
Discontinued TECT and MRTE data:
Tourism Electronic Card Transactions
Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (2016 - 2020)
TECT will no longer be updated and should not be compared directly with MRTE levels.
Key differences between MRTE and TECT
| Feature | New MRTEs (Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates) | TECT (Tourism Electronic Card Transactions) |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Total visitor spending in New Zealand* | Electronic card spending only |
| Coverage of payment types | All payment types (card, cash, and other non card payments are estimated) | Electronic card transactions only |
| Purpose | Full, official quality estimate of tourism expenditure | Interim indicator of spending trends |
| Domestic and international visitors | Produced using a consistent framework and can be combined | Produced separately and not designed to be combined |
| Level of spending shown | Higher, as it reflects total estimated spending |
Lower, as it reflects only card spending |
| Methodology | Uses card data to understand spending patterns and scales to official statistics | Direct aggregation of card transactions |
| Alignment with official statistics | Calibrated to Stats NZ sources (for example Retail Trade Survey, Tourism Satellite Account) | Not scaled to represent total market spending |
| Regional and industry detail | Enhanced and consistent across regions and industries | More limited and indicative |
| Update frequency | Ongoing monthly series | Interim series (no longer updated) |
| Current status | Active – replaces TECT | Discontinued |
*Estimates only
Research method and coverage
MRTEs combine official statistics — the Retail Trade Survey (RTS) and Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) — with extensive electronic card transaction (ECT) data from major payment networks, covering nearly all merchants and capturing approximately two-thirds of retail consumer spending.
The MRTE methodology involves quantifying national spending by ANZSIC categories, apportioning values geographically and by visitor origin using ECT data, identifying tourism-related spending through distance and cardholder residency rules, and producing monthly estimates with predictive modelling.
The setup and ongoing production of the MRTE series follows 4 key steps:
- Quantify total national market value for each MRTE ANZSIC category.
- Apportion value across destination geographies and origin markets.
- Attribute spend to domestic and international tourism using enhanced methods.
- Produce monthly outputs for regular release.
Key definitions
Merchant location classification: Transactions are assigned to business locations at the Territorial Authority (TA) level, with specific splits for Queenstown-Lakes and Southland districts to align with Regional Tourism Organisation boundaries, enabling granular regional analysis.
Industry and visitor market dimensions: Businesses are classified by 4-digit ANZSIC industry codes, while visitor markets are defined by cardholder residence, distinguishing domestic tourism by home TA, international tourism by card-issuing country, and non-tourism for long-stay international residents. The Retail Trade Survey ANZSIC categories account for about 85-90 per cent of spending within the MRTE industry coverage, which ensures robust alignment with official statistics.
Tourism spending identification: Domestic tourism spending is defined as transactions more than 40 km from a cardholder’s residence area, while international tourism is identified by card origin and duration of stay, excluding long-stay residents classified as non-tourism.
Strengths and limitations
The MRTE methodology strengths include:
- Electronic card transaction data (ECT) covers close to 100 per cent of merchants accepting ECT in New Zealand.
- ECT data represents about two-thirds of total retail consumer spending, providing a reliable basis for apportioning total spending.
- International card transactions are covered from around 170 countries, enabling detailed analysis of visitor origin markets.
- Electronic card transaction data enables detailed analysis of spending behaviour across regions, industries, and visitor markets in near real time.
- Official statistics are used to benchmark and scale these observations, ensuring the resulting estimates align with New Zealand’s recognised statistical frameworks.
Limitations of the MRTE methodology:
- The MRTE figures are estimates subject to revision and rely on ECT behaviour, excluding cash transactions and merchants not accepting cards.
- It is possible that international visitors using New Zealand-issued cards may be misclassified.
- Long-stay international classifications may not be perfect but are considered reliable overall.
Quality and privacy standards
The Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (MRTEs) are modelled estimates of total visitor spending, produced by combining large‑scale, anonymised electronic card transaction data with official statistics to provide a consistent monthly picture of tourism expenditure by region, industry, and visitor type.
The estimates identify tourism activity using defined methods for domestic and international visitors and may be revised over time as new data becomes available. All underlying card data is aggregated and anonymised, and results are published only at summary levels. No information identifying individual people or businesses is released, and the data is produced in line with MBIE’s data governance, quality, and privacy standards.