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31 May 2010
Final Report
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Preface
This report has been prepared for the Steering Group established for the review of the
Government’s tourism sector agencies. The report has been prepared by Doug Martin, Chris
Gould, Tom Gott and Emily L’Ami from MartinJenkins (Martin, Jenkins & Associates Limited).
Our over-riding goal is to build the effectiveness of the organisations we work with. We do this
by providing strategic advice and practical support for implementation in the areas of:
• organisational strategy, design and change
MartinJenkins was established in 1993, and is privately owned and directed by Doug Martin,
Kevin Jenkins, Michael Mills and Nick Davis.
Restrictions
This Report has been prepared solely for the purposes stated herein and should not be relied
upon for any other purpose.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no duty of care to any third party in connection
with the provision of this Report. We accept no liability of any kind to any third party and
disclaim all responsibility for the consequences of any third party acting or refraining to act in
reliance on the Report.
We have not been required, or sought, to independently verify the accuracy of information
provided to us. Accordingly, we express no opinion on the reliability, accuracy, or completeness
of the information provided to us and upon which we have relied.
The statements and opinions expressed herein have been made in good faith, and on the basis
that all information relied upon is true and accurate in all material respects, and not misleading
by reason of omission or otherwise. We reserve the right, but will be under no obligation, to
review or amend this Report, if any additional information, which was in existence on the date of
this Report, was not brought to our attention, or subsequently comes to light.
This Report is issued pursuant to the terms and conditions set out in our contract dated 23
February 2010.
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Contents
Executive Summary 1
1 Introduction 9
2 Approach 10
6 Value-for-Money 29
9 Organisational Form 40
10 Recommendations 41
Appendix 1: Interviewees 44
Tables
Table 1: TMT and TNZ Outputs .................................................................................................. 15
Table 2: List of Interviewees ....................................................................................................... 44
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Executive Summary
The objective of this review is to optimise the role government plays within the tourism sector in
order to support the Government’s goal of maximising the value tourism can add to growing a
highly productive New Zealand economy. To this end, the primary focus of the review is on
ensuring clarity between the roles and responsibilities (including functions and services) of the
key government tourism agencies, being the Ministry of Tourism (referred to in this report as
TMT) and the New Zealand Tourism Board (referred to by its trading name of Tourism New
Zealand or TNZ). The review also considers the alignment and synergies with other
government agencies involved in the tourism sector.
Three main questions form the terms of reference for this review:
1. what roles, functions or services should government play in support of the objectives noted
above?
2. are there any functions or services not being provided that should be, any functions that are
being duplicated, or any functions currently provided that should be stopped? and
3. how should the government tourism sector (TMT and TNZ) best organise themselves to
deliver on these roles, functions and services?
Based on our review of the roles and responsibilities of the two main agencies – TMT and TNZ
– we conclude that current arrangements are not fundamentally flawed or broken. There are
benefits from retaining the two agencies (although not necessarily in the current form) with TNZ
continuing to focus on its core business of marketing New Zealand to international visitors and
TMT continuing to be the provider of policy advice to Government on tourism matters.
We have considered the option of combining the two entities into one organisation either in
departmental, or Crown entity, form. This is not recommended. The departmental form is not
well suited to the effective development and execution of marketing strategy. There is a need
for strong commercial drive and acumen in relation to marketing strategy and we doubt that this
capability can be fostered in a department form. Equally, the Crown entity form does not work
well for policy. Policy relies on a having close relationship with Ministers and the core public
service. The arm’s-length nature of Crown entities does not easily provide this. Moreover,
because Crown entities are legally separate from the Crown, policy developed by a Crown
entity is owned by the entity; not the Minister.
Even though we recommend retaining two separate agencies, we consider that there is a
number of steps that should be taken to make current arrangements work more efficiently and
effectively and to enhance the contribution of the Government’s tourism sector agencies. The
opportunities for enhancement are discussed in relation to the second and third questions noted
above.
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Turning to the first of the questions above – the role for government, we have considered
whether there is a justification for each of the outputs that are produced by TMT and TNZ. For
the most part, we conclude that the answer to this question is yes. Our reasons for this include:
• policy advice is generally regarded as core business for government. There are strong
public good aspects associated with policy advice. The market, left to itself would lack the
means and incentives to fund independent policy advice. Similar arguments apply to the
research undertaken by TMT which delivers statistical information that is part of what is
referred to as the core tourism dataset, and
• marketing NZ to international visitors involves significant externality benefits; that is, the
marketing activity of one operator would tend to benefit others and, as a result, the level of
investment in marketing, if left to the market, would be below that which is optimal. Again,
there is a strong case for government involvement.
In short, as far as the core activities of TMT and TNZ are concerned, we conclude there are
good reasons for government involvement in these areas. The need for government
involvement is somewhat less clear, however, in some related areas of activity. In particular we
consider that the need for ongoing government involvement in the following areas could be
reviewed further:
• TNZ’s 60% ownership stake in, and ongoing financial support for, Qualmark. We consider
that there are benefits in having this scheme but we are not convinced that there needs to
be an ongoing ownership interest. TNZ is taking steps to render Qualmark financially
sustainable without the need for ongoing funding support from government. Once
sustainability is attained, consideration could be given to divesting TNZ’s ownership
interest, and
• TMT has responsibility for administering scholarship grants and the tourism facilities grants
programme (grants totalling $300,000). We are not convinced that these grants confer
significant value and consider that the case for their continuation should be assessed.
The second and third of the questions raised in the terms of reference for the review focus on
how the government’s agencies are organised and how they interact with one another. We
have identified several opportunities for enhancing current arrangements. The opportunities for
enhancement can be summarised under five main headings.
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There would be benefits from TMT and TNZ entering into a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to set out the roles and responsibilities of the agencies, the principles guiding the
interaction between them and to ensure advice from each agency is visible to the other. The
MoU could usefully incorporate the findings of this report in relation to policy, research and
evaluation and monitoring functions.
Policy
It is in the policy area where the lack of clarity of roles is most acute. We note that in situations
where there is a lack of clear regulatory reason for intervention in a sector (as is the case for
tourism), the role for policy can be less clear.
Advice on policy issues spans a continuum from the strategic to the operational. We consider
the focus for TMT needs to be firmly rooted at the strategic end of the spectrum with operational
policy matters being within TNZ’s ambit. For example, TMT might assess the economic
footprint of tourism compared to other sectors to inform government’s thinking on its investment
priorities, but it should be TNZ that undertakes analysis around market selection.
The demarcation of roles is not black and white in all situations. The relationship between the
agencies needs to develop to the point where each will engage with the other to determine,
where needed, which agency should take the lead on a particular issue without resorting to a
defensive “this is our patch” mindset.
By clarifying roles in relation to policy, we would expect the policy role of TMT to narrow and
concentrate on key strategic matters around the need for, and form of, government intervention.
As a consequence of this, we would also expect there to be a review of capability requirements
including an assessment of the potential for reducing the number of policy staff.
The issue of role clarity has also arisen in the context of research and evaluation. We consider
that there is a role for TMT and TNZ to engage in research in order to support their core policy
and marketing roles.
With respect to TMT, it should have responsibility for statistics that have strong public good
characteristics. This includes, in particular, statistics that form part of the core tourism dataset
(CTD) most of which serve a wide range of purposes (e.g. visitor arrival numbers have
relevance to border control agencies as well as tourism interests).
TNZ needs to commission research in order to assist with evaluating and informing its
marketing strategy. Its research tends to have a strong consumer orientation.
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We note that TMT is involved in a number of industry surveys in partnership with industry bodies
where the focus is on particular segments of the tourism sector (e.g. the convention activity
survey). Compared to the CTD, sector-specific surveys do not have the same degree of public
good characteristics. Accordingly, while there can be a case for some government funding, the
cost of such surveys should, in part, be paid for by industry. There is a need to develop a
funding framework in this regard.
With respect to evaluation, both agencies need evaluation capability to inform policy
development and marketing strategy. Like policy, research and evaluation also spans a
continuum and, accordingly, there is the potential for the research and evaluation activities of
the two agencies to cross over. Our assessment is, however, that the level of duplication is
minimal. The more significant issue is whether there are opportunities for the two agencies to
better integrate their respective evaluation work so that the knowledge that is created is
complementary and collectively adds greater value.
2 Value-for-Money
We have identified several areas where the roles of the agencies could be modified to deliver
greater value for money.
With respect to marketing, there is a need for further work on the intervention logic that
underpins marketing strategy to optimise the mix and level of marketing initiatives and
marketing expenditure. This should also include work on a performance management
framework and supporting performance measures to assess the effectiveness of marketing.
There would be significant benefits from having engagement between TNZ and TMT at an early
stage of the process to ensure that there is shared and agreed understanding of the way in
which the effectiveness of marketing is to be assessed.
The current workplan for TMT’s policy team spans a wide range of issues and there is a higher
than normal proportion of time spent on what we would view as being relatively low-value policy
work. Greater value for money would come from developing a framework to more effectively
prioritise the use of resources and to direct a relatively greater proportion of policy resource
toward key questions around the need for, form of and extent of government intervention in the
tourism sector.
Although there are indications that the quality of TMT’s monitoring of TNZ has improved in
recent times, our assessment is that there is scope to reorient the monitoring focus to deliver
more value. In particular, there would be benefits from reorienting toward a more strategic, and
less operational, focus. Moreover there should be a risk based approach to determining the
level and nature of monitoring effort. The principles that underpin the monitoring relationship
and role could usefully be agreed as part of the proposed MoU between TMT and TNZ.
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TMT administers a scholarship programme and the Tourism Facilities Grants Programme. Both
programmes are small in size. We are not convinced that these grants deliver sufficient benefit
to warrant their ongoing provision. The case for these grants should be reviewed.
There is also some overlap between the Visitor Experience Monitor (VEM) managed by TNZ
and the International Visitor Survey (IVS) managed by TMT. Both surveys include information
on visitor satisfaction but the IVS also has a much wider scope. Consideration could be given
to incorporating the detail of the VEM into the IVS but the issue is not straightforward because
of sample sizes, the uses to which the surveys are put and cost. A preferable option is to
explore options for better linking the two surveys.
4 Inter-agency co-ordination
Co-ordination between the Government’s tourism sector agencies is improving, but there is still
work to do. In particular:
• TNZ has interest in the quality of the “product” that is being marketed which, in turn, raises
issues around the need for, and scope of, government intervention regarding the capability
of businesses operating in the tourism sector. Support for business capability building fits
with the operational responsibility of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) but there is
a need to determine what roles NZTE will play in respect of building the capability of tourism
sector businesses.
• TMT and Te Puni Kokiri (TPK) have been collaborating to define the appropriate role for
government in fostering the development of Maori tourism. There is a need for TMT and
TPK to continue to work together to agree strategic priorities and the roles of the respective
agencies.
There are also issues involving the co-ordination between central government and regional
tourism organisations (RTOs) as well as between RTOs (but that is outside of the scope of this
review). The relationship between TNZ and the 29 RTOs has been improving but there are
challenges inherent in having to deal with a large number of organisations with differing
capabilities. We support continued use of the joint venture fund which is being used to leverage
relationship and co-ordination opportunities with, and across, RTOs.
5 Organisational form
TMT is a semi-autonomous body (SAB) within the Ministry of Economic Development (MED).
The SAB model does not sit comfortably with the accountabilities conferred on the CEO of MED
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• better aligning structure with the Government’s desire to have a closer linkage between
tourism and wider economic development, and
• more closely integrating policy, research and evaluation and monitoring roles, with the
capabilities that exist within the MED in each of these areas.
Recommendations
Based on the foregoing, we recommend that:
c. MED to assess the implications of recommendation (b) for its capability requirements and
staff numbers (our expectation is that the level of capability required will rise, but the
number of staff needed may reduce)
d. TNZ take the lead role on operational policy matters that pertain to its overarching
marketing responsibilities
e. TNZ’s statutory mandate be modified, at some stage, to better align the description of TNZ’s
functions with its marketing roles and responsibilities (this will need to involve TNZ and
TMT) and, pending statutory change, TNZ’s roles and responsibilities should be reflected in
its Statement of Intent
f. independent consultants assist TMT and TNZ to develop and agree a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) setting out roles and responsibilities with particular emphasis given to
policy, research and evaluation and monitoring and processes for ensuring advice from both
agencies is visible to one another
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g. TMT and TNZ jointly work toward fostering a relationship where both agencies engage
when issues arise to determine who should take the lead
k. TMT develop a tool/framework to prioritise its policy work and that as the policy work
programme is developed, this be shared with TNZ so that TNZ has awareness of policy
issues that have relevance to its roles and responsibilities
l. TMT reorient its monitoring of TNZ so that it is more strategically, and less operationally,
focused and so that a risk-based approach is taken to determining the level of monitoring
effort
m. TNZ review its capacity and capability requirements in light of its new marketing strategy
n. TMT, in conjunction with TNZ, review TNZ’s funding arrangements with a view to enhancing
opportunities to leverage private sector funding for marketing
o. the Chair of TNZ and TMT/MED provide advice to the Minister of Tourism regarding the size
and composition of the TNZ Board (to ensure that there is a sufficient complement of strong
governance skills including experience of governance in a Crown entity context and to
reduce the number of members as appropriate for the size of the entity) and on how any
change might be achieved
p. TMT review the benefits and costs associated with grants in relation to the Tourism
Facilities Grants Programme and scholarships, with a view to assessing whether or not
these should continue
r. TMT and TNZ continue to maintain appropriate levels of research and evaluation capability
in order to support their respective roles relating to strategic policy and marketing and, in
order to realise opportunities for economies of scope, TMT and TNZ establish an inter-
agency forum (or process) for development of a sector-wide research programme
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s. TMT lead, with input from TNZ, a project aimed at establishing better web-based linkages
between the tourism data sets that are currently split between TMT (including the core
tourism dataset and other macro-oriented statistics) and TNZ (consumer focused statistics)
and, more generally, that TMT use the upgraded data management system (a project
already underway) to facilitate stakeholder use of the information resources available
v. TMT and Te Puni Kokiri continue to collaborate on defining the appropriate role for
government in fostering the development of Maori tourism (consistent with a direction
received from the Ministers of Tourism and Maori Affairs) and that, in support of this
direction, TMT and TPK jointly work to agree strategic priorities and the roles of their
respective agencies
w. TMT and TNZ engage with NZTE as part of the process of developing the MoU (referred to
in recommendation (f) above) with a view to determining what roles NZTE will play (as the
central government agency with operational responsibility for business capability building)
in respect of building the capability of tourism sector businesses
x. TNZ continue to administer the joint venture fund, based on criteria agreed between TNZ
and TMT, as a lever for promoting greater collaboration with, and between, RTOs
Organisational Design
y. MED prepare a paper for the Minister of Tourism to take to Cabinet recommending that
TMT’s status as semi-autonomous body be terminated, and that TMT be integrated within
the MED.
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1 Introduction
Objective
1 Tourism makes a significant contribution to the New Zealand economy. The objective
of this review is to optimise the role government plays within the tourism sector in
order to support the Government’s goal of maximising the value tourism can add to
growing a high productivity New Zealand economy. To this end, the
recommendations stemming from the review should:
Purpose
2 The primary focus of the review is on ensuring clarity between the roles and
responsibilities (including functions and services) of the key government tourism
agencies, being the Ministry of Tourism (referred to in this report as TMT) and the
New Zealand Tourism Board (referred to by its trading name of Tourism New Zealand
or TNZ). The review is also to consider the alignment and synergies between TMT,
TNZ and other government agencies; for example, Te Puni Kokiri (TPK), New Zealand
Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) and the Department of Conservation (DoC).
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2 Approach
Process
4 The approach to the review has progressed in four main phases as follows.
7 Although a number of issues with current arrangements were identified, overall our
assessment was that current arrangements are not fundamentally broken or flawed.
The nature of the issues does not, in our view, give rise to the need for radical reform
of either of the core agencies that have been the focus for this review. Rather, the
issues pointed to a need to:
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preceding paragraph. An Options paper was prepared and discussed with the
Steering Group. The paper was also discussed at workshops involving TMT and TNZ
personnel. The workshops were intended to share perspectives on the range of
options as part of the process of working toward conclusions and recommendations
for enhancing the contribution of the Government’s tourism sector agencies.
Reporting phase
9 This phase draws together the information and analysis from the previous phases. A
draft report was prepared for review by the Steering Group and personnel from TMT
and TNZ. Feedback from these groups was incorporated, as appropriate, into this
report.
Principles
10 In determining the optimal arrangements for roles and responsibilities of the
government’s tourism agencies, consideration needs to be given to a range of
machinery of government and organisational design principles. The principles we
have had regard to are outlined below.
11 At the time of preparing this report, the Government had recently announced its
intention to amalgamate various government agencies as follows:
• amalgamating the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST) and
the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST)
12 The changes are part of the Government’s desire to improve state sector performance
and, in this respect, there are three main objectives that apply to any machinery of
government change:
AND/ OR
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AND/ OR
c) Future-proofing the long-term delivery of government services through, for
example:
i. ensuring that small to medium-sized agencies, with relatively
high fixed costs, can operate through a long period of fiscal
constraint off more sustainable, lower cost corporate
platforms;
13 The principles that support achievement of these objectives are set out below.
16 The objects and functions of TNZ are set out in the New Zealand Tourism Board Act
1991. The framework for the governance, operation and accountability of TNZ is
prescribed in the Crown Entities Act 2004, which categorises TNZ as a Crown Agent.
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Effective Decision-making
17 The allocation of roles and responsibilities between the tourism agencies should
support effective decision making within Government, thereby enabling the
achievement of the Government’s desired outcomes for the tourism industry. As part
of this, arrangements should promote coherent and timely advice to Ministers. The
analysis will include consideration of roles and responsibilities for engaging across
government on issues that are exogenous to tourism but could potentially impact on
the sector’s performance.
• ensuring that smaller organisations including TMT and TNZ are able to operate
through a long period of fiscal constraint because they are working off more
sustainable and lower cost corporate platforms.
Effective Communications
20 The allocation of roles and responsibilities should promote effective communications
and engagement between the tourism agencies, other government agencies and the
tourism industry.
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TMT TNZ
Administration & management Working with overseas travel trade and airline carriers
• Crown Land • Training
• Grants & scholarship administration • Trade events (hosting/participating)
• Familiarisations (for overseas sellers)
• Cycleway
• Information provision to overseas sellers (incl
traveltrade website)
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TMT TNZ
Informing and engaging with the NZ tourism industry Informing and engaging with the NZ tourism industry:
• Seminars • Publications
• Conferences • Industry website
• Engagements (e.g. road shows)
• Advice to regions and RTOs
23 As indicated in the table above, there is a number of functions that are common to
both organisations (i.e. research and statistics, policy-related, and ministerial
servicing) In section 5, we assess whether current arrangements are leading to
duplication of roles and responsibilities and, hence, inefficiency. Following sections
identify opportunities for enhancing current arrangements under the headings of
value-for-money, economies of scale and scope, inter-agency co-ordination and
organisational form. Before this, however, we consider the issue of the role for
government and whether there are any outputs/functions included in the table above
where the case for government intervention can be questioned.
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25 In summary, we conclude that there are sound reasons supporting the need for
government intervention with respect to TNZ’s core marketing roles and TMT’s core
policy and research and evaluation roles. Our reasons for this are set out below.
Marketing
26 Marketing is, by far, the largest of TNZ’s outputs ($39.5 million in 2009/101 and 59
FTE staff out of 128.6 FTEs as at April 20102) and lies at the heart of TNZ’s statutory
mandate. The issue of whether there is a role for Government in relation to marketing
New Zealand to international visitors has previously been considered in the context of
the 2005 Baseline Review of TNZ. That review concluded that there are elements of
market failure which warrant government involvement, through TNZ, in marketing NZ.
In brief, the two main reasons included in the baseline review were as follows.
• The fragmented nature of the industry means that the minimum investment in
marketing that is necessary is unlikely to emerge without partnership with
Government. This was referred to in the 2005 review as a problem of indivisibility.
27 We concur with these points and consider that they still have relevance. In relation to
the second of the points above, we would add that the fragmented nature of the
industry also means that there would be high transactions costs if individual tourism
operators attempted to club together to invest in marketing. Government intervention
is a way of minimising transactions costs.
28 The arguments above support the need for government funding for offshore
marketing. It does not necessarily follow, however, that marketing should be funded
solely by government and/or undertaken only by TNZ. We note from the 2005
baseline review a comment made to the effect that while the 100% Pure campaign
had been a success in branding the nation (and, hence, raising awareness of NZ as a
1
TNZ Statement of Intent 2009/10 p37
2
Source: TNZ
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travel destination), there was a need for greater focus on the conversion to actual
travel in key markets. The 2005 review indicated that this could argue for greater
industry contribution to marketing. TNZ already actively pursues joint marketing
initiatives with major organisations involved in the tourism sector (e.g. Air New
Zealand). Opportunities in this regard should continue to be developed.
Policy Advice
29 TMT’s budget for policy and research outputs in 2009/10 amounts to $8.485 million
which accounts for over 80% of TMT’s budget (including the cycleway project).
30 Policy advice is generally regarded as being a core activity of government. There are
strong public good aspects associated with policy advice in that the impacts of advice
are widely felt and it is generally not feasible, or desirable, to try to exclude people
3
from benefiting from the provision of policy advice. Where strong public good
characteristics are present, there is a case for government funding of the good or
service; the market left to itself would lack the means and incentives to fund the good
or service.
31 Generally, it is accepted that lead responsibility for policy advice rests with ministries
reflecting the following considerations:
• ministers are more easily able to direct ministries than they can Crown entities
• ministries are part of legal Crown which implies a range of obligations and
practices in policy making
• the Crown entity governance structure does not lend itself to facilitate the often
fluid nature of policy development, and
• the need to minimise the potential for policy advice to be biased by sector or other
interests.
3
In contrast to public goods, private goods have the characteristics that the consumption of a good or service by one
person cannot be simultaneously consumed by somebody else and that it is possible (and economically desirable)
to exclude people from consuming the good or service unless they pay for it.
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accordingly, there are strong grounds for government funding to support their
provision.
33 TMT is also involved in several surveys in partnership with other bodies. These are
the:
• Regional visitor monitor - TMT contributes $125,000 (or 50%) of the project cost
• NZ Hotel Council survey – TMT contributes $10,000 p.a. for managing data to
place on TMT’s website
• Convention activity survey – TMT contributes approximately $31,000 (or 26%) of
the project cost, and
34 The data collected through these surveys do not seek to represent the “whole
population” but instead are focused on the respondent groups. This group of statistics
begins, therefore, to move away from the strong public good characteristics that are
associated with the CTD. For this group of statistics, and any others that are
produced for a specific part of the tourism industry, the case for government funding
(and provision by TMT) is less compelling.
35 We note that there is no framework to guide decision making in terms of whether there
should be some form of industry funding contribution toward the cost of these types of
statistic. Furthermore, there is no guidance as to determination of relative funding
contributions from government and industry. As a result, there is a risk that
government funding is not being optimised and a risk of creating a perception that
government funding is not being applied equitably across jointly funded statistics.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop a funding framework and guidelines.
Other Functions
36 There are two areas of activity where the case for government intervention is less
clear-cut; the first of these is Qualmark and the other is support for i-sites.
Qualmark
37 TNZ has a 60% ownership stake in Qualmark NZ Limited (the other 40% is owned by
the Automobile Association). TNZ undertakes activities to retain and build
membership of the Qualmark scheme. The activities include providing financial
support for Qualmark, appointing directors to the Qualmark Board and providing some
marketing support.
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There is also some evidence that Qualmark helps to raise standards among
businesses operating in the tourism sector and this contributes to increased visitor
spending. Furthermore, several stakeholders interviewed as part of the review made
the point that the scheme is highly regarded and industry representatives have
indicated that they would not want to see the scheme terminated.
39 The benefits of the Qualmark scheme are widely felt in that they affect most, if not all,
users of Qualmark assessed businesses. In addition, it can be argued that TNZ, as
marketer, benefits from receiving assurance regarding the quality of the “product” that
is being marketed so that the “promise” that is portrayed through marketing matches
the experience when international visitors come to New Zealand. Of themselves,
however, we are not convinced that these considerations present an unequivocal case
for government intervention and, even if some role for government is warranted, we
are not convinced that this should take the form of funding and part-owning Qualmark
Ltd. In particular:
• if Qualmark is helpful in raising standards, and if this then results in higher levels
of spending by tourists, we would expect the benefits of that to be captured largely
by those businesses that lift their standards. They should be willing to pay for
Qualmark. On this basis, the case for ongoing government funding of Qualmark is
questionable, and
41 For these reasons the need for government intervention, through TNZ, is not as clear
cut as it is for the core marketing functions of TNZ. We note that ownership carries
with it ownership risks. In this regard, the Qualmark scheme has not been performing
to the level desired by TNZ and this has resulted in the need for financial support to
enable Qualmark to sustain its operations and meet cashflow requirements. TNZ is
currently working with Qualmark Ltd to review the way it operates, re-size its operating
costs and to develop a 2-3 year plan for achieving financial sustainability that does not
4
involve an ongoing need for government financial support. We support that approach
4
The amount of financial support totaled approximately $1.1 million in each of the years ending June 2008 and 2009.
Source: TNZ 2008/09 Annual Report p46
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and consider that as progress is made with the goal of achieving financial
sustainability, consideration should be given to divesting TNZ’s interest in Qualmark
either to the private sector or to an industry body such as the TIA.
I-sites
42 The “i-site” network is NZ’s official visitor information network with 90 sites nationwide.
Each i-site provides local/regional information relating to activities, attractions,
accommodation, transport and so on. Most i-sites are owned by RTOs although some
are in part, or full, private ownership and some operate at a profit.
43 We have considered the case for central government intervention in relation to i-sites.
In general, we do not see a need for central government to have any ownership or
funding interest in i-sites. The benefits from having i-sites accrue, for the most part, to
businesses and other organisations operating in the region/area to which the i-site
relates. RTO and or private ownership and funding is, therefore, appropriate. The
question arises, therefore, whether or not there should continue to be a role for TNZ in
relation to i-sites.
44 The nature of the functions undertaken by TNZ in respect of the i-site network is
essentially one of business support. As part of its “Information for Visitors” output,
TNZ provides staff, support services, business systems, training and marketing for the
i-site network. TNZ provides a national branding umbrella and has provided limited
financial support in 2008 and 2009 (approximately $0.5 million in each year).5 The
resource commitment amounts to approximately 3 FTE staff plus some marketing
costs.
45 Part of the role of the i-site network is to participate in the delivery of TNZ campaigns.
Research evidence indicates that the i-sites have a positive impact on levels of visitor
spend and, accordingly, TNZ views its work in relation to the i-site network as a useful
lever for influencing international visitor value. For these reasons, there is a linkage
with TNZ’s core marketing function and, on this basis, we consider that this limited
form of continued central government intervention is justified.
5
Source: TNZ 2008/09 Annual Report p46
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Policy
47 Policy can be described as the analysis and planning that guides decisions and
achieves rationale outcomes. It can be applied to situations of government, private
sector organisations and groups and individuals. Across these groups policy is often
operating on a continuum from so-called big ‘P’ to little ‘p’ – that is from high level
government (strategic) Policy through to organisational and operational policy.
Operational policy is sometimes referred to as organisational strategy.
49 Policy in this context should be distinguished from operational policy which is focused
on giving effect to agreed Policy frameworks, such as marketing strategies for tourism
or strategies to ensure continuous improvement of the management of tourism on the
conservation estate.
50 In TMT and TNZ the government has two agencies which have the opportunity to
develop ‘policy’ at both ends of the continuum. The current division of roles broadly
assigns Policy responsibilities to TMT with operational policy matters (in respect of
marketing) being the responsibility of TNZ.
51 This is as it should be. TMT should have the role of developing high-level Policy
around questions of the need for, form of and extent of government intervention and
TNZ should focus on its operational policy role of tourism marketing.
TMT Focus
52 Government is looking to TMT to take the lead in providing pro-active and
independent advice on strategic Policy issues relevant to the government’s objectives
for the tourism sector. This advice will derive from TMT’s Policy foundation work on
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53 Based on comments made during interviews, there is some concern that TMT’s policy
advice has become too weighted toward immediate, but less strategically important,
issues. There is a challenge to balance demands and manage resources so that the
strategic needs of government are met.
55 If the focus of Policy advice from TMT is to be re-oriented and become more strategic
in nature, consideration will need to be given to the implications for capability and
capacity. This should include an assessment of the need to invest in capability given
the change to a more strategic focus and of the potential for reducing the number of
policy staff in light of a reduced focus on lower level policy issues.
TNZ Focus
56 Under its governing legislation, TNZ does not have a Policy role. Nevertheless, it
does provide input to Policy issues where relevant and is involved in a range of joint
strategic policy-related initiatives with TMT.
57 TNZ’s principal focus, in a policy context, is on operational policy issues relating to its
core marketing functions to give effect to government’s objectives in relation to tourism
(including tourism’s contribution to wider economic development objectives). In
general this translates into the development and implementation of international
marketing strategies aimed at building awareness of New Zealand and the ultimate
conversion of this into tourism sales and economic activity. TNZ commissions
research to test the effectiveness of its marketing initiatives in these markets and to
inform the development of specific marketing strategies and tactics in markets.
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58 TNZ does not have a policy team or strategic policy capability (other than to the extent
that some of its employees have previously worked in a policy environment), however
information obtained through its international connections form an important input to
strategic policy development. These connections (and the information they generate)
should continue to be exploited as much as possible as part of the strategic policy
development process.
• related to the previous point, TMT would also have a role in advising government
on the extent to which it is getting value for money from its investment in the
tourism sector. TNZ has a primary responsibility for assessing and then advising
government on the value obtained from marketing activities undertaken by TNZ
(and which form a significant part of the overall investment that government
makes in the sector) and TMT, as monitor has second opinion role in relation to
the assessment carried out by TNZ, and
• TMT would be the appropriate agency to advise government on how it might
integrate sustainable tourism strategies and policies with national and regional
sustainable development strategies but TNZ might well need to provide advice on
what this means for marketing strategy.
60 The division of roles and responsibilities in relation is not always going to be clear cut.
There will be instances where it may be appropriate for TNZ to engage in the policy
development process rather than look to TMT (e.g. because of the nature of the issue
or because TNZ has better information concerning, and understanding of, the issues).
Similarly, there will be issues with major implications for marketing (e.g. tourism
cooperation agreement between New Zealand and China) that nonetheless require
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direct involvement of the TMT (e.g. because of the need for ministry to ministry
interaction).
61 To ensure clarity of roles and avoid unnecessary overlaps (or gaps), there is a need
for understanding across both agencies of the types of policy issue that TNZ might
take a lead on (as opposed to providing input or second opinion). One option, that is
not uncommon across many departmental/Crown entity relationships, is to have a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). While the MoU itself can assist in setting out
understandings and expectations, the process of developing the MoU is, as much as
anything, the mechanism for building shared understanding of roles and
responsibilities around policy. The MoU can also document processes for ensuring
that advice from each agency is visible to the other. The MoU could usefully extend
beyond just policy roles to also include research and evaluation and monitoring.
62 The MoU and process for its development should be used as one mechanism for
fostering a relationship between TMT and TNZ that enables both organisations to
meet, when issues arise, and agree which agency should take the lead on a particular
issue.
64 While the core focus of TNZ is clearly on international marketing (as articulated in its
current 3 Year Marketing Strategy 2010 – 2013), the Act does not provide sufficiently
clear guidance regarding TNZ’s functions in this respect. Under the Act, functions are
defined broadly; ‘to develop, implement, and promote strategies for tourism; and to
advise the Government and the New Zealand tourism industry on matters relating to
the development, implementation, and promotion of those strategies’. This wording,
especially if read independently of TNZ’s object, could be interpreted as providing for
a wide brief that extends well beyond marketing NZ as a visitor destination.
6
New Zealand Tourism Board Act 1991 s6 – Object of the NZ Tourism Board
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66 As alluded to in the summary of TNZ’s roles provided in section 3, TNZ adopts this
broader approach to marketing through its activities for developing digital approaches,
training and partnering with onshore and offshore tourism sellers, its engagement with
airlines, its involvement with product quality through Qualmark, its association with i-
Sites and its promotional campaigns and branding. We consider that, at some stage,
the wording of the functions described in the Act should be refreshed to more
accurately reflect the marketing roles actually undertaken by TNZ. Recognising that
opportunities to amend the legislation may take some time to eventuate, in the more
immediate future the Statement of Intent (SoI) and, within this, the Statement of
Service Performance, can be used as the mechanism to give interpretation to the
statutory mandate.
Ministerial Servicing
67 Both TMT and TNZ have a role to pay in supporting the Minister in relation to the day-
to-day tasks of dealing with ministerials, parliamentary questions, Official Information
Act requests and so on. Comments made to us during interviews suggest that in the
past, there has been some lack of clarity surrounding respective roles and
responsibilities. We also understand, however, that progress has been made in
addressing this.
68 The assignment of roles and responsibilities should not be a major issue. Generally,
we would expect there to be relatively straightforward protocols agreed with Ministers’
offices (though which much of the work in this area is channelled) which determine
which agency takes the lead on any particular issue. For the most part, we would also
expect much of the day-to-day ministerial servicing tasks to fall to TMT to manage with
TMT seeking input from TNZ as appropriate.
69 In addition to the tasks described above, ministerial servicing also includes providing
the Minister (or his Associate) with briefings and/or speeches for the purposes of
forthcoming meetings and events. When Ministers are new to their portfolio, there can
be a need for briefings to be relatively comprehensive. We sense from various
interviews that such a need no longer exists and shorter form briefings only are
required.
70 International travel occurs relatively frequently for the Minister. While both agencies
can have a role to play in assisting with the extensive planning that is needed for
international trips, we consider there are opportunities to streamline the involvement of
both agencies.
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72 The need and arrangements for monitoring of Crown entities are different to those
which operate in the private sector. While the principles that underpin good
governance including effective accountability that apply in the private sector also apply
with respect to Crown entities, being part of the wider state sector imposes different
obligations and arrangements that do not exist in the private sector.
73 It is important that the Board of TNZ include members who not only have strong
governance skills but who also have sound understanding of the governance
framework that operates under the Crown Entities Act. In the past, the TNZ Board has
comprised individuals who were appointed because of the role they play in the tourism
sector. While understanding of the sector is one skill set that is needed for the TNZ
Board, it is not, in our view, the dominant skill requirement.
74 We note that the Board currently comprises nine members which is the maximum
allowed under TNZ’s governing legislation. The size of the Board is at the upper end
of the numbers for several major and high risk Crown entities. Although this is more of
a value-for-money issue rather than an issue of role clarity, there is scope to reduce
the number of members on the Board.
75 The functions undertaken by TMT to support the Minister in discharging his monitoring
responsibilities are an important part of ensuring effective accountability. Monitoring
should not be viewed solely, or even predominantly, as an exercise in compliance.
The monitoring function of itself should assist with the achievement of government’s
objectives and should, accordingly, add value. This is discussed further in section six.
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77 New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is the central government agency with
operational responsibility for business capability building (not limited, of course, to
businesses operating in the tourism sector) as well as supporting New Zealand
businesses internationally. While it is not the role of NZTE to be the deliverer of
business capability services, as we understand it, NZTE does have responsibility for
ensuring the availability of business capability services.
78 Various stakeholders interviewed as part of this review commented that they perceive
little connection between NZTE and the two core government tourism agencies. In
our view, there is a need for greater clarity around the role of NZTE generally in terms
of what role it should be playing in supporting the government’s objectives in relation
to tourism. In this regard, there would be benefits in TMT and TNZ engaging with
NZTE as part of the process of developing a MoU with a view to determining what
roles NZTE will play in relation to the tourism sector.
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6 Value-for-Money
79 Value-for-money (VFM) has a number of dimensions including being effective (i.e.
selecting the mix of outputs that will maximise contribution to desired outcomes),
being efficient (i.e. combining inputs in such a way as to produce the quality and
quantity of outputs at lowest cost) and being economical (i.e. selecting inputs that that
give the best quality/cost mix given the purpose to which they are being used).
80 Within the scope of this review, it has not been our role to assess efficiency or
economy (other than in the context of identifying opportunities to achieve economies
of scale and scope). In assessing roles and responsibilities, however, we have gained
some insights regarding effectiveness, at a relatively high level, in relation to the core
activities of the two main agencies.
Marketing
81 Maximising the contribution of tourism to government’s growth objectives depends on
targeting the right tourism markets. It has not been within the remit of this review to
assess the choices that are made by TNZ is this respect. We note, however, that to
date, the primary focus of TNZ’s international visitor marketing has been on the
holiday and “visiting friends and relatives” (VFR) markets. TNZ believes that its ability
to influence these markets is stronger than is the case for other segments of the visitor
market including in particular, the business visitor market (including business-related
incentive travel) and the education sector (international student market).
82 Notwithstanding this, TNZ has indicated an intention to broaden its focus, as part of its
latest strategy, into the business and education markets and has also indicated that
some work is already being undertaken in this regard. We consider that this should be
encouraged. There are, however, more complex dynamics and policy issues to work
through, particularly in the education sector including broad issues around the ability
of government to influence international student flows, and policy settings in relation to
international students from both an education sector and immigration perspective.
83 VFM also depends on selecting the right mix of outputs (or interventions) to maximise
the contribution to desired outcomes. Good information is required to inform these
decisions. In this regard, measures of the effectiveness of marketing initiatives and
campaigns are an important input, but a challenging task. There are many factors
influencing the decisions of tourists whether or not to visit New Zealand and decisions
regarding how long to stay, and how much to spend, once in New Zealand.
Establishing the strength of causal link between interventions (marketing campaigns
and initiatives) and these decisions is inherently difficult. By implication, there are
some difficult challenges in designing a performance framework and performance
measures that help to assist in assessing the effectiveness of marketing and that
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provide useful feedback into the design of marketing strategies and campaigns. Two
requirements stems from this:
• the need for a robust intervention logic that links TNZ’s outputs with outcomes,
and
85 The ongoing development that needs to occur around the intervention logic and
performance management framework should, in our view involve both TNZ and TMT.
There should be shared understanding between the agencies of the objectives and
outcomes to which TNZ’s marketing strategy is to contribute and joint approach to
developing the performance management framework and supporting performance
measures. From a VFM perspective, this will assist in two respects; firstly in terms of
providing government with assurance that marketing strategy and supporting
marketing initiatives will add value and, secondly, in terms of providing a common
basis from which TNZ and the monitors within TMT assess progress against TNZ’s
marketing strategy. Currently, there is not a shared view between the agencies as to
the information and measures that TMT needs for effective monitoring. We comment
further on this below.
86 Finally, we note that TNZ currently undertakes marketing that involves funding
provided by third parties. We view this as desirable as it leverages the funding that is
provided by Government. There would be benefits from reviewing TNZ’s funding
arrangements with the objective of increasing marketing opportunities that are jointly
funded with the private sector
Policy
87 The 2009/10 workplan for TMT’s policy team indicates that:
• around 25% of the policy team’s time is spent on general policy advice including
preparing speeches, briefings and ministerials
• 20% - 25% of resource is allocated to providing demand-driven second opinion
advice to other government agencies on issues that have a tourism dimension
(e.g. border policy and immigration matters)
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– policy foundation work (which includes reviewing the 2015 tourism strategy to
ensure it is aligned with new priorities and changed world economic
conditions)
89 There is scope, in our view, to more rigorously prioritise between policy initiatives and
focus resources on the relatively few strategic/big picture policy issues of greatest
significance (e.g. the appropriate role of government in tourism). Consistent with this,
there are opportunities to devolve policy that is more operational in nature to other
agencies including TNZ. To assist with focusing TMT resource on the large and
strategically important policy issues, we consider that TMT should develop a tool or
framework to assist in determining its work priorities. The tool or framework should be
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used by TMT as part of its discussions with Ministers to determine policy advice
priorities and agree the Output Plan.
90 Around a quarter of the policy team’s time is given to general policy advice (i.e.
preparing speeches, briefing etc). Based on our general observation of other
ministries, we would assess this proportion as being at the upper end of the range.
This also raises the issue as to whether the balance of resources is appropriately
weighted toward strategic policy matters.
Monitoring
91 Formally, the monitoring relationship is between the Minister and the Board. Under the
Crown Entities Act (CEA), the Minister has certain monitoring roles and responsibilities
(section 27 of the CEA in particular refers).
• ownership monitoring
• vote administration
• issues management
94 TMT has one FTE staff involved in monitoring and part of the time of one of the senior
analysts in the policy team also provides input to monitoring.
95 Based on our review of the quarterly monitoring reports prepared by TMT in relation to
the 2008/09 financial year, our assessment is that they do not add as much value as
they could. They were relatively descriptive in nature, guarded in terms of
commentary on TNZ’s performance and tended to repeat information that was
included in the performance reports provided by TNZ. The context within which these
reports were prepared needs to be taken into account however:
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• the way in which performance information was reported by TNZ was not as
meaningful as that which is currently provided.
96 The situation is changing and for the better. The April 2010 monitoring report has
been reviewed by the SSC and Treasury and in the view of these agencies, the
monitoring report is of good standard and clearly identifies issues, provides frank and
succinct analysis and clearly identifies areas for improvement and areas of potential
risk. These are all elements that we would expect to see as part of good quality
monitoring advice.
97 Notwithstanding the improvement in the quality of monitoring, there is still room for
ongoing enhancement in several respects.
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the entity for detailed management accounting information. It also runs the risk of
signalling a lack of trust in the entity and this of itself does not lend itself to an effective
monitoring relationship – something that is required in order for the monitors to do
their job well.
100 Given the changes proposed to enhance the monitoring function, and given the issues
that have arisen in the past between TNZ and TMT in relation to monitoring, we
consider that there is merit in utilising the MoU referred to earlier to incorporate a
section on monitoring so that there is clarity of roles and responsibilities.
Grants Administration
101 TMT is involved with a small number of grants including:
• the Tourism Demand Subsidy Scheme (TDSS) which provided funding over three
years (2004- 07) to assist small communities with high tourism flows to invest in
water and sewerage infrastructure. This scheme is effectively closed and in the
process of winding up. There is minimal administrative work involved (and that is
undertaken by MED’s Grants Team)
• the Tourism Facilities Grants Programme (TFGP) which provides funding for
physical facilities that could not otherwise be provided on a commercial basis
($300,000 in 2009/10). Administration of this is undertaken by MED’s Grants
Team, and
• five education scholarships for masters students (total $75,000).
102 The amounts of money involved in the two ongoing schemes are relatively small but
require resource to administer. Because of the small sums involved, the ratio of
administration costs to level of grant funding is relatively high. Given this,
consideration could be given to re-assessing the business case for continuation of
these grants.
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1. core tourism data components that represent the whole tourism ‘population’ and
7
are Tier 1 statistics ; these comprise International Visitor Arrivals (IVA),
International Visitor Survey (IVS), Domestic Travel Survey (DTS), Tourism
Satellite Account (TSA) and Commercial Accommodation Monitor (CAM)
3. industry collections that have been established in partnership with industry groups
and reflect the respondent groups. This includes the Regional Visitor Monitor
(RVM), the NZ Hotel Council survey, the Convention Activity Survey (CAS) and
the Tourism Industry Monitor (TIM).
104 TMT’s research programme is delivered by its internal research team (consisting of 8
FTE staff and one manager) complemented with external providers. The departmental
8
appropriation is $4.6m for 2009/2010 .
105 TNZ’s research programme aims to generate the information required to inform and
evaluate its marketing strategy (e.g. understanding key inbound markets to NZ).
TNZ’s key research activities consist of:
• campaign tracking and evaluation research that tracks the impact of a campaign
on potential visitors
• Visitor Evaluation Monitor (VEM), which surveys actual visitor attitudes and
experiences, and
7
Tier 1 statistics are a defined set of key official statistics that are performance measures of New Zealand and must
meet principles and protocols.
8
Vote Tourism – Departmental Budgets
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9
research spend is roughly $1m per annum . TNZ is currently reviewing its research
activities to ensure they align with, and support the delivery of, its new marketing
strategy.
107 For the most part, the work undertaken by the two agencies does not involve
duplication. There are, however, two areas where there is a degree of duplication
and, hence, scope to combine activities and achieve some economies.
108 The first of these is market and sector profiles. Both agencies produce market profiles
by country (e.g. Australia, United Kingdom, United States etc) and the profiles contain
similar information (e.g. visitor numbers, how long visitors stay, how much they spend
etc). According to TMT, updating its profiles requires less than 5% of a FTE staff to
maintain and, accordingly, is a very minor cost. Notwithstanding this, there is
duplication that could be avoided.
109 The second area of overlap is between the VEM undertaken by TNZ and the IVS
undertaken by TMT. The VEM surveys visitors from seven markets about their
holiday experiences and their levels of satisfaction. The IVS also has a “satisfaction”
component although its focus is wider, information is gathered at a different point in
time compared to the VEM and it also includes information in relation to levels of
spending, activities undertaken and visitor itinerary. A possible option could be to
incorporate the VEM into the IVS but there are issues that would need to be
addressed in order to implement this. In particular, the sample size of the VEM is not
large enough to enable weighting to the whole traveller population (which is possible
with the IVS even though the IVS of itself has quite a small sample size – 5000
people). A preferable option is to explore options for better linking the two surveys.
110 Both agencies also undertake evaluation of tourism related data and statistics. As
with the research, we consider that in general there is no duplication of role because
evaluation is being undertaken for different purposes. For this reason, we would not
support an option (which was raised during discussions by one of the agencies) to
combine evaluation resources. The risk is that by combining resources, evaluation
would end up concentrating on the evaluation needs of one organisation at the
expense of the other. In the case of TMT, most of the evaluation is undertaken by
policy personnel reflecting the strong linkages that are required between evaluation
and policy development. We do not consider it would be efficient to separate this any
more than it would be to decouple the evaluation that TNZ commissions in order to
inform marketing strategy, campaigns and so on.
111 Notwithstanding our conclusion that TMT and TNZ should continue to have research
and evaluation roles, there are potential benefits in creating a more formalised
arrangement to link the work of the agencies and foster a sense of collective
9
Contribution on the Tourism Information System, TMT, March 2010
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112 Tourism data sets are not currently located in one place (they are split between TNZ
and TMT). From a user’s perspective, there is a degree of inefficiency in this
arrangement. There is a need to put in place more effective linkages so that from a
user’s perspective, it is as if the datasets were in one repository.
113 We also note that SNZ has responsibility for some tourism related statistics while TMT
has responsibility for the IVS and the DTS. We understand that the separation of
responsibilities reflects underlying funding arrangements. While consideration could
be given to amalgamating all CTD statistics under the direct responsibility of SNZ,
there has been a move in recent years for responsibilities to be devolved from SNZ to
other ministries (including TMT and MED). We do not consider there are strong
reasons, on efficiency grounds, to change this arrangement.
Land Management
114 TMT manages around 500 hectares of residual tourism land at Wairakei under a MoU
with the Commissioner of Lands. The land was originally acquired for tourism use.
TMT’s responsibilities in relation to the land include securing new tourism activities,
managing the relationship with Contact Energy (the land is part of the Wairakei
thermal park) and managing a number of leases, licences and permits relating to use
of the land. TMT also has responsibility for land used for forestry purposes although
management of this land has been transferred to MAF.
115 There is no synergy between land management functions and the policy and research
activities that are core business for TMT. TMT currently employs a consultant to
undertake its land management responsibilities. We doubt that this is the most
efficient arrangement.
116 The Government has a specialist land management agency in the form of Land
Information New Zealand (LINZ). We consider that it would make more sense, from
an economy of scale perspective, for TMT’s land management responsibilities to
transfer to LINZ. We understand that some discussions have been held with LINZ in
this regard already.
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Maori Tourism
118 TMT meets regularly with TPK to discuss issues around the strategic and operational
direction for Maori Tourism. When the 2015 NZ Tourism Strategy was released in
late- 2007, TMT identified a need for strategic direction and leadership in the Maori
tourism sector. The place of Maori tourism within wider tourism was, and to an extent
is, unclear. TMT led a multi-agency group, including TPK and non-government
organisations, to develop strategic priorities aimed at contributing to the achievement
of the goals for Maori tourism set out in the 2015 strategy.
119 Since late-2007, the main focus for TMT and TPK in relation to Maori tourism has
been on capability building through a Maori tourism mentoring programme (NZTE
provided assistance in setting up the programme). In late-2009, the Minister of Maori
Affairs and the Prime Minister directed TPK and TMT to work more collaboratively on
supporting the growth and development of Maori tourism. In support of this direction,
there is a need for TMT and TPK to agree strategic priorities and the roles of the two
agencies.
120 We note that funding for capability building has been drawn from a strategic
implementation fund within Vote: Tourism (and administered by TMT). This funding
terminates at the end of June 2010. The availability of ongoing funding is dependent
on the outcome of funding bids submitted by TPK as part of the 2010 Budget.
121 TNZ also plays a role in terms of marketing Maori tourism. This should continue and
be enhanced by extending existing efforts through developing closer relationships with
TPK and the Maori tourism sector. We note a view, expressed by some stakeholders
interviewed during the review, that Maori culture should be a more prominent part of
the brand that is portrayed to international visitors.
NZTE
122 As discussed in section five, there is a role for NZTE in relation to business capability
building including businesses operating in the tourism sector. There is a need for
greater clarity around how NZTE’s role integrates with TNZ and TMT and, to this end,
it would make sense for the proposed MoU between TNZ and TMT to include a
section dealing with the interface with NZTE.
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124 The relationship between TNZ and RTOs has been improving but there are inherent
challenges in having to deal with 29 RTOs that are of varying sizes and capabilities.
We note that a $5 million joint venture fund that is jointly administered by TMT and
TNZ has been used as a mechanism for driving greater alignment and co-ordination
across RTOs. As a result of this, a couple of the larger RTOs have taken on a
leadership role and there has been some natural convergence between some of the
RTOs. We consider that the fund should continue to be used as a lever for fostering
greater co-ordination with and among RTOs.
125 With respect to Maori tourism, we note that there does not appear to be effective co-
ordination between Maori RTOs and other RTOs or between the Maori Tourism
Council and government’s tourism sector agencies in relation to, for example,
capability development and promotion. This is an issue that may need to be
considered further once roles and responsibilities at central government level have
been addressed.
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9 Organisational Form
126 TMT is a semi-autonomous body located within the MED. Under this arrangement,
the General Manager of TMT has a direct line of advice to the Minister of Tourism and
a measure of independence from the MED.
127 Under the State Sector Act, the Chief Executive of MED has responsibility for the
performance of TMT and carrying out the functions and duties of the MED including
TMT. While the Chief Executive can delegate the performance of roles and duties to
the General Manager, he cannot delegate the responsibility that derives from the State
Sector Act. Similarly, under the Public Finance Act, the Chief Executive is
accountable for the financial management and performance of MED including TMT
and the administration of Vote: Tourism.
128 The SAB model does not sit comfortably with the framework of the State Sector Act. It
is an arrangement that has the potential to muddy, rather than clarify, lines of
accountability and to create a situation where the responsibilities and accountabilities
of the Chief Executive of MED are compromised.
129 We are not convinced that there are benefits that would justify retaining TMT as a SAB
with “independence” from the MED. Rather, we consider that there would be benefits
from integrating TMT within MED. In particular, integration would:
• align better with the objectives of machinery of government change including for
example, improving responsiveness to Ministers, better aligning functions to
achieve government priorities and achieving economies of scale and scope.
130 For these reasons, we recommend that TMT be integrated into MED. The way in
which this is to be achieved should be the responsibility of the CEO of MED to
determine.
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10 Recommendations
Based on the foregoing, we recommend that:
e. TNZ’s statutory mandate be modified, at some stage, to better align the description of TNZ’s
functions with its marketing roles and responsibilities (this will need to involve TNZ and
TMT) and, pending statutory change, TNZ’s roles and responsibilities should be reflected in
its Statement of Intent
f. independent consultants assist TMT and TNZ to develop and agree a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) setting out roles and responsibilities with particular emphasis given to
policy, research and evaluation and monitoring and processes for ensuring advice from both
agencies is visible to one another
g. TMT and TNZ jointly work toward fostering a relationship where both agencies engage
when issues arise to determine who should take the lead
i. TNZ, in consultation with TMT, review the need for an ongoing ownership by TNZ in
Qualmark once Qualmark is assessed as being financially self sustaining
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k. TMT develop a tool/framework to prioritise its policy work and that as the policy work
programme is developed, this be shared with TNZ so that TNZ has awareness of policy
issues that have relevance to its roles and responsibilities
l. TMT reorient its monitoring of TNZ so that it is more strategically, and less operationally,
focused and so that a risk-based approach is taken to determining the level of monitoring
effort
m. TNZ review its capacity and capability requirements in light of its new marketing strategy
n. TMT, in conjunction with TNZ, review TNZ’s funding arrangements with a view to enhancing
opportunities to leverage private sector funding for marketing
o. the Chair of TNZ and TMT/MED provide advice to the Minister of Tourism regarding the size
and composition of the TNZ Board (to ensure that there is a sufficient complement of strong
governance skills including experience of governance in a Crown entity context and to
reduce the number of members as appropriate for the size of the entity) and on how any
change might be achieved
p. TMT review the benefits and costs associated with grants in relation to the Tourism
Facilities Grants Programme and scholarships, with a view to assessing whether or not
these should continue
s. TMT lead, with input from TNZ, a project aimed at establishing better web-based linkages
between the tourism data sets that are currently split between TMT (including the core
tourism dataset and other macro-oriented statistics) and TNZ (consumer focused statistics)
and, more generally, that TMT use the upgraded data management system (a project
already underway) to facilitate stakeholder use of the information resources available
t. TMT transfer its land management responsibilities to LINZ
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v. TMT and Te Puni Kokiri continue to collaborate on defining the appropriate role for
government in fostering the development of Maori tourism (consistent with a direction
received from the Ministers of Tourism and Maori Affairs) and that, in support of this
direction, TMT and TPK jointly work to agree strategic priorities and the roles of their
respective agencies
w. TMT and TNZ engage with NZTE as part of the process of developing the MoU (referred to
in recommendation (f) above) with a view to determining what roles NZTE will play (as the
central government agency with operational responsibility for business capability building)
in respect of building the capability of tourism sector businesses
x. TNZ continue to administer the joint venture fund, based on criteria agreed between TNZ
and TMT, as a lever for promoting greater collaboration with, and between, RTOs
Organisational Design
y. MED prepare a paper for the Minister of Tourism to take to Cabinet recommending that
TMT’s status as semi-autonomous body be terminated, and that TMT be integrated within
the MED.
Final Report 43
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Appendix 1: Interviewees
The following people and organisations were interviewed as part of the review. The purposes of
the interviews were to gather information relating to the functions performed by government’s
tourism sector agencies and to obtain perspectives on issues relating to, and options for, roles
and responsibilities. The interviews were conducted on a no-attribution basis so as to enable
the free and frank expression of views and perspectives.
44 Final Report