This page provides information on the revisions we will make to 2015 macroeconomic statistics.
Revised figures on spending by international visitors
On 20 February 2015 the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) released revised figures for expenditure by international visitors to New Zealand. These revisions result from adopting an improved outlier detection and treatment methodology for the International Visitor Survey (IVS), and affect data from the September 2013 quarter to the September 2014 quarter.
See International Visitor Survey: Outlier detection and treatment on the MBIE website.
Exports of travel services will be $273 million smaller for the March 2014 year as a result of these revisions.
Treatment in Statistics NZ's macroeconomic statistics
We will adopt these revisions as part of our annual revisions cycle. A timeline of when these revisions will appear in our economic releases is shown below.
| Release |
Date |
| Balance of Payments and International Investment Position: June 2015 quarter |
16 September 2015 |
| Gross Domestic Product: June 2015 quarter |
17 September 2015 |
| Tourism Satellite Account: 2015 |
27 October 2015 |
| National Accounts (Income and Expenditure): Year ended March 2015 |
20 November 2015 |
The improved outlier detection and treatment methodology in the December 2014 quarter and March 2015 quarter IVS results will be incorporated into our macroeconomic statistics as they are published. This means there will be no revisions (relating to the new outlier methodology) made to exports of travel services in these periods.
Statistics and data series that will be affected by these revisions
| Series affected |
Why series is affected |
Direction of change |
| Exports of travel services |
We will adopt an improved outlier detection and treatment methodology for the IVS. |
Decrease |
| Current account balance |
Records the balance of New Zealand’s earnings from overseas, and expenses overseas. Exports of travel services are part of New Zealand’s earnings from overseas. |
Larger deficits, smaller surpluses |
| Household consumption expenditure |
If less expenditure in the economy is attributed to overseas visitors, this implies that New Zealand households are spending more. |
Increase |
| Household saving |
If New Zealand households are spending more, this implies they are saving less. |
Decrease |
Note that there will be no material impact on GDP as a result of these revisions. The fall in travel services exports is offset by an increase in household consumption expenditure in current price terms.
Published 20 February 2015