Stats NZ cuts surveys and relies on insurance payments to bolster its budget

Wednesday, 5 June 2019

A monthly survey of commercial accommodation has been canned and a funding dispute between two Government agencies is being blamed. (File photo)

Stats NZ says it is relying on insurance payments to bolster its spending as well as dropping four industry surveys to save money.

The tourism industry is furious about the decision to drop the monthly accommodation survey from September, along with annual data surveys on energy use, the screen industry and internet service providers.

Stats NZ said it was facing 'significant cost pressures' and had drawn on a number of unsustainable ways to pay for operational spending, using revenue from insurance payments following the Kaikoura earthquake, and also using money initially intended for capital spending to help bolster operational spending.

A statement from the data agency said its budget for 2019 was based on full cost recovery for third party surveys, and if that was not possible, it had to consider dropping the work to focus on higher priorities.

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But Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) said the 'sudden and unexpected removal' of the monthly survey of hotels, motels, backpackers and holiday parks was hugely disappointing and it is demanding its immediate reinstatement.

TIA chief executive Chris Roberts said Stats NZ wanted to increase the price it charged MBIE for carrying out the survey from $500,000 to about $2 million, but MBIE was not prepared to pay, and the spat had led to the premature canning of the data collection.

Deputy government statistician Denise McGregor said Stats NZ understood there would be disappointment about the move and it would work with government agencies, the industry and interest groups to find ways of filling the gaps created by the end of the surveys.

The commercial accommodation monitor provides data on visitor volumes and occupancy rates, and the tourism industry wants it to continue until a more accurate replacement survey is available.

She also pointed out there had long been concerns that the commercial accommodation survey did not include hosted accommodation, Airbnb and BookaBach.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) also collects tourism industry data and said that while work was done on a new long term source of accommodation data, alternative figures were available from half a dozen other surveys, such as its monthly regional tourism estimates.

Roberts said the two government agencies had been working on a replacement, but it was at least a year away, and the existing commercial accommodation monitor should remain in use until the new one had been been tested and implemented.

'It is astonishing that a dispute between two government departments over who should pay has led to the demise of this key insight source.'

Roberts said while there were problems with the accommodation monitor, it was still an essential measure of visitor volumes and movements, providing data on guest night numbers, capacity, number of establishments and occupancy rates. It was also used to produce monthly reports for 32 regions.

Stats NZ said it would work with MBIE to come up with more reliable ways of providing the key information. 'There is no timeline at this point, but it will take time to evaluate different options.'

Regional tourism organisations said they were shocked to hear their main source of tourism data was to be scrapped just weeks after the Government's tourism strategy announced a commitment to better industry research.

Region Tourism NZ executive officer Charlie Ives said that while the accommodation survey was far from perfect, it was the only information the industry had on domestic and international visitor volumes.

He said a review of the survey in 2015 had come up with some practical ways to improve it, but the Government had done nothing.

'Instead it's sat on its hands for four years, and then announced it is getting rid of the research completely, without an immediate alternative,' Ives said.

Holiday Parks Association chief executive Fergus Brown said the sector was devastated to be losing one of its most vital data sources.

'The information allows holiday parks to benchmark their performance against other similar parks and regions, and against other types of accommodation. There are no other official sources for this type of information.'