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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 30% in the year ended June 2021 compared to the year ended June 2020. It was also up 18% on pre-COVID levels in the year ended June 2019. Monthly domestic TECT spend for June 2021 was also up 19% on June 2020.
As expected with the border closed, international spend in the year ended June 2021 was down on previous years. Spend was down 69% on 2020 and 73% down on 2019. However monthly international spend in June 2021 saw a 52% increase on June 2020.
It won’t come as a surprise that spending by Australian card holders has declined year-on-year. In the year ended June 2021 Australian TECT was down 71% compared to the previous year and was down 76% from the year ended June 2019.
Australian TECT spend in June 2021 was up over 200% compared to the previous year, as there were essentially no international arrivals in June 2020. However, Australian TECT spend was still down 22% on pre-COVID levels June 2019. This was affected by the pause in quarantine-free travel with all Australia on 26 June.
Domestic TECT spend increased in all regions in the year ended June 2021 compared with the year ended June 2020. All regions also saw growth in Domestic TECT spend compared with the year ended June 2019. The West Coast saw the largest increase in domestic spend in the year ended June 2020, up 60%. This was followed by Tasman (up 57%), Otago and Marlborough (both up 51%). The West Coast also saw the largest increase in domestic spend when compared to 2019, up 46%. This was followed by Tasman (up 40%) and Otago (up 37%).
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.
TECT data is now available in the new TEIC in the form of interactive graphs. As well as visualising the data, you also have the ability to customise the graphs and can download them and the related data. Pivot tables are still available in the usual link to the TECT website
The latest TECT data can be found in the Sustainable Tourism Explorer in the reliance on tourism section of the region area. Breakdowns include: