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This article was produced by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The content you find below is exclusive to the Tourism Evidence and Insights Centre.
Domestic tourism electronic card transaction (TECT) spend was up 29 per cent in the year-ended May 2021, compared with the previous year. Domestic TECT spend was also up 16 per cent on the year-ended May 2019. International spend in the year-ended May 2021 was down 71 per cent on 2020 and 74 per cent down on 2019.
Australian TECT spend was down by 76 percentage points compared to year-ended May 2021 and 79 percentage points from year-ended May 2019.
We have now reverted back to defining spend on international cards as ‘international’ spend instead of ‘other’ spend. Due to the commencement of quarantine free travel with Australia, we are also further disaggregating international spend. Spend on Australian cards will be classified as ‘Australian’ spend. Spend on cards from any other countries will be classified as ‘other’.
All regions showed double-digit growth in domestic TECT spend in the year-ended May 2021 compared with the year-ended May 2020. Auckland was the only region that didn’t show an increase in domestic spend when compared to the year-ended May 2019. West Coast saw the largest increase in domestic spend in the year-ended May 2020, up 62 per cent. This was followed by Tasman (up 57 per cent) and Otago (up 51 per cent). These three regions also saw the largest increases in domestic spend when compared to 2019.
When comparing domestic spend in May 2021 to May 2019, Tasman and Marlborough witnessed largest increase, up 46 per cent. These were followed by the West Coast (up 40 per cent) and Otago (up 31%).
The three regions with the highest increase in domestic spend, both at the annual and monthly level, also saw some of the largest falls in international spend .They also had a high reliance on the international tourism market pre-COVID-19.
Pivot tables are still available in the usual link to the TECT website
TECT can be found in the Sustainable Tourism Explorer in the reliance on tourism section of the region area. As well as visualising the data, you also have the ability to customise and download graphs, in addition to download the data behind them. Breakdowns include: