Improved Accommodation Survey to Reduce Burden on Operators
Last updated:
April 2008
MEDIA STATEMENT
22 June 2007
Accommodation operators will spend less time filling out Statistics New Zealand forms and get better quality information in return under new measures announced by Tourism Minister Damien O’Connor and Statistics Minister Clayton Cosgrove today.
A review of the data-gathering system, carried out by the Ministry of Tourism and Statistics New Zealand, has identified ways to improve the quality and usefulness of the data generated by the Commercial Accommodation Monitor survey (CAM), the Ministers said.
The CAM survey is a valuable tool for the tourism industry, providing accurate and timely updates on where visitors are staying and what issues they have. “Any changes will protect the value of the CAM and maintain its high quality, as well as reducing the burden on the hard-working businesspeople who provide the information to complete this monthly survey,” Mr O’Connor said.
Mr Cosgrove said today’s announcement is part of an ongoing drive by Statistics New Zealand to reduce the amount of form-filling that businesses do while raising the quality of the data they receive in return.
“Having access to relevant, timely and accurate statistical information is important for companies wanting to grow their business,” he said. “However obtaining that information in the first place does place a burden on respondents, and these changes will go some way towards reducing that burden.
In the case of the CAM review, both agencies are committed to an ambitious target of reducing respondent load by half. They will do this in a series of steps, including:
- Streamlining the questionnaire by having fewer questions
- Changing the origin of visitor question into a simple international/domestic split
- Eliminating duplication (double surveying), by using existing data; e.g. from the New Zealand Hotel Council collection.
Options are also being explored for developing an easy-to-use Web-based system for completing forms online, and a system that would link the CAM collection with the reservation systems of operators. This would enable CAM responses to be automatically generated.
The Ministers thanked the tourism sector participants for their support and cooperation in conducting the survey.
Contact: Robyn Cubie: Press Secretary to Clayton Cosgrove (04) 471-9136
ENDS
For more information on the Commercial Accommodation Monitor please visit the Ministry of Tourism research website - www.tourismresearch.govt.nz.
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