Industry slams spending data
New Zealand was ‘‘the most important market to get right’’.
‘‘New Zealand is a test ground for Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. We are a technology company selling travel. If you can do well in New Zealand from a technology perspective, you have got your foot in the door.’’
The global relationship with Amadeus provides Travlr with access to the travel inventory of 484 airlines and 2.3 million hotels, but te Hennepe said it would take time to flesh out its New Zealand offering with smaller, local partners.
It had engaged Kiwi social media star Logan Dodds to promote the service. The former operations director of Lonely Planet for 18 years, Geoff Stringer, has been recruited as chief operations officer. The tourism industry says a damning review of visitor spending figures questions the survey’s credibility, particularly for the Chinese market.
The Statistics New Zealand report followed strong industry criticism about the accuracy of the international visitor survey (IVS) spending figures produced for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said the review found significant failings with the way the IVS was done and an alarming lack of oversight by Government officials.
A key problem was that too many Australians were surveyed and not enough Chinese or Japanese visitors ‘‘so we can have very little confidence in the numbers for those markets’’.
The report released yesterday said the IVS was ‘‘generally fit for purpose’’ and made 10 recommendations for improvements, but Roberts said the industry was surprised at the extent of the problems uncovered in data that was ‘‘incredibly important’’ to the sector.
The IVS was also an important part of the Government accounts because it fed into the balance of payments and the current account, as well as driving tourism forecasts, Roberts said. Regional tourism promotion organisations relied on it heavily.
Other shortcomings identified included a failure to carry out the survey as it was designed, a ‘‘rather slim’’ training manual for interviewers, insufficient monitoring, and a lack of interaction between the survey company, MBIE, and Statistics NZ.
MBIE general manager of research, evaluation and analytics Eileen Basher said the ministry was already working to resolve the issues identified and was taking expert advice on the design of the questionnaire.