Trends and Forecasts Tourism is now New Zealand's largest single export industry, surpassing the dairy industry in terms of earnings. Additionally, the industry has strong potential for future tourism growth.

A great way to keep up to date with what is happening in research and forecasting is to subscribe to the Ministry of Tourism's Tourism Leading Indicators Monitor, which is updated monthly with key indicators for inbound tourism, outbound tourism, domestic tourism, commercial accommodation and visitor expenditure.

The latest issue can be viewed here, or contact research@tourism.govt.nz for a free subscription.

Tourism New Zealand updates online market guides monthly with anecdotal feedback on each of our main markets, announcements of air service changes and major events that may impact the New Zealand tourism industry.

Tourism New Zealand's quarterly Tourism News magazine is now available online. Between issues, e-bulletins update the industry with breaking news about the industry, our work and our markets. Click here to subscribe.

For detailed information on forecasts and trends in the tourism industry consult the Tourism Research Council website - home of the official tourism data set.

The following information can be found on the tourism research council site:

The International Visitor Survey (IVS)

Published quarterly, the International Visitor Survey (IVS) is conducted by the Ministry of Tourism by carrying out ongoing interviews with international visitors as they depart from Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch airport. 5,200 interviews are completed each month, according to specified quotas for certain nationalities and visitor demographics.

The interviews collect information from visitors regarding their visit to New Zealand from arrival to departure, including demographics, accommodation types, regions visited and an estimate of expenditure. This sample is then weighted to represent all international visitors and to cancel out known discrepancies between the sample and the population. This also ensures that weighted samples are equal to population totals for arrivals from Statistics New Zealand.

Commercial Accommodation Monitor (CAM)

A monitor of New Zealand's commercial accommodation with data collected including the number of establishments, capacity, nights spent, occupancy rates and origin of visitors. Results are released monthly.

Tourism Satellite Account (TSA)

The tourism satellite account (TSA) is used to measure the contribution of tourism to the New Zealand economy. Results include tourism's share of exports and gross domestic product (GDP), employment and GST revenue.'

Forecasts 2009-2015

Prepared annually since 1999, the Ministry of Tourism's forecasts provide in-depth estimates on future tourism activity within New Zealand. Using statistical modelling and with wide industry input, the forecasts cover a seven-year projection period. Forecasted information includes international visitor arrivals, regional spread, visitor expenditure and analysis by major inbound markets.

The Tourism Industry Monitor (TIM)

The purpose of the Tourism Industry Monitor (TIM) is to provide individual tourism businesses with regular, up-to-date information on the performance of the tourism sector, including the outlook for the next three months.

The TIM is an industry initiative led by the Ministry of Tourism, the Tourism Industry Association, Tourism New Zealand and the New Zealand Hotel Council.