(File photo)Stats NZ is dropping four industry surveys to save money and the tourism industry is furious about the loss of accommodation data. But Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) said the "sudden and unexpected removal of a key information source" was hugely disappointing and it is demanding its immediate reinstatement. 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. 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.

Source: Stuff June 05, 2019 04:18 UTC