Background
Statistics New Zealand has completed a review of international travel and migration outputs available in Infoshare (a free-of-charge online tool that provides access to a range of time-series data) and INFOS. The review was to ensure information remains relevant and easily accessible. A new International Travel and Migration group (ITM) is now available and will replace the External Migration (EMI) group. In order to allow users time to familiarise themselves with the ITM group, EMI will remain available until 30 September 2009. To help users move from EMI to ITM outputs, a concordance between them is provided here, as well as information on the data available for ITM.
Changes
The ITM group includes the following improvements:
- tables are organised by passenger type and then travel direction
- more permanent and long-term (PLT) data is available
- most PLT tables include a travel direction variable giving consistent data across arrivals, departures and net migration (arrivals minus departures)
- all "total passenger movements" tables include a travel direction variable giving consistent data across arrivals, departures and totals (arrivals plus departures)
- tables that contain selected country data have been revised to include the most relevant countries for each passenger type
- annual data series are now available for March, June, September and December years
- additional tables have been added for variables such as flights, permit type, birthplace, estimates of the number of visitors in New Zealand, and estimates of the number of short-term New Zealand travellers overseas
- some tables have been modified to make them more relevant
- some tables have been removed where usage was very low.
Location of Infoshare data
Infoshare is available on the Statistics New Zealand website. The ITM data is found under the Tourism\International Travel and Migration folder, while the EMI data is found under the Population\External Migration folder.
Downloadable MS Excel files
The file "Variables available in ITM" shows all the variables available in ITM and all the tables in which each variable is included. Tables containing selected variables, as well as tables for particular passenger types, data types or periodicity, can be identified using the Excel filters.
If you do not have Excel, download Excel viewer to view, print or export this file.
The file "Concordance of external migration (EMI) families to international travel and migration (ITM) families" maps EMI families to the corresponding ITM families. It also notes if there is no, or a partial, corresponding family. Filters allow identification of ITM families to corresponding individual EMI families and/or passenger types.
If you do not have Excel, download Excel viewer to view, print or export this file.
Questions and answers
Why the changes?
To ensure outputs remain relevant to users, Statistics New Zealand periodically reviews what information is available. A review of international travel and migration outputs has not been undertaken for some time. There was a need to ensure new variables that had become available were introduced, as well as to ensure existing variables were accessible and useful.
What periodicity is the data available for?
ITM includes data for four annual periodicities (March year, June year, September year, and December year), whereas EMI only includes one (March year). Monthly and quarterly data is also available, though not always to the same level of detail as annual tables.
What variables are in ITM?
-
*Average number of visitors in New Zealand
-
*Average number of short-term New Zealand travellers overseas
- Age
-
*Birthplace
- Country of citizenship
- Country of main destination
- Country of residence
-
*Flights
- Length of absence
- Length of stay
- New Zealand area of residence
- New Zealand port
- Occupation
- Overseas port
-
*Permit type
- Sex
- State, prefecture, province (for selected countries of residence)
- Totals data (actual, counts derived from a sample, seasonally adjusted, trend)
- Travel direction
- Travel mode (air, sea)
- Travel purpose
* New
Note: Not all variables are available for all passenger types.
Does ITM provide the same data as EMI?
ITM generally contains more information than EMI due to the introduction of new variables and increased periodicity. As a result of the review, some data has been modified or removed. A concordance between ITM and EMI families can be found in the downloadable file (Concordance of external migration (EMI) families to international travel and migration (ITM) families).
What is a family in Infoshare?
A family is a collection of tables that have the same heading (excluding periodicity). For example:
Short-term NZ traveller departure totals is a family
Short-term NZ traveller departure totals (Monthly) is a table.
Infoshare shows tables under groups (International travel and migration) within subject areas (Tourism).
What countries are available for each passenger type?
Each passenger type has one family which contains all countries:
- Permanent and long-term migration by country of residence and citizenship
- Short-term New Zealand traveller departures by country of main destination and purpose
- Total passenger movements by country of residence
- Visitor arrivals by country of residence and purpose
- Visitor departures by country of residence.
Other families include only a selection of countries. The file "Selected countries by passenger type" shows the selected countries that are available for each passenger type. Note that some tables, particularly monthly or quarterly data may have more limited country selections.
If you do not have Excel, download Excel viewer to view, print or export this file.
Is the data actual counts or sampled data?
Actual totals are available, but most counts are derived from a sample of records. Permanent and long-term data is the exception, where all data is actual counts. For more information about sampling see Information about international travel and migration.
Can I still use INFOS?
Infoshare is now the corporate tool for users wanting to access Statistics New Zealand's detailed data. A cross-over period between Infoshare and INFOS will be available to enable INFOS users to become familiar with the Infoshare product. For further information see the Infoshare frequently asked questions webpage.
How long will EMI be available for?
EMI will only be available (in Infoshare) until 30 September 2009.
What help is available?
For further help, contact Peter Lafferty or Nick Thomson.
Christchurch 03 964 8700
Email: demography@stats.govt.nz
or the Information Centre.