Figures have been released showing growth in spending in the Christchurch city centre, largely spurred on by the opening of new dining precincts. Visitors to the Christchurch CBD spent $210.5 million, a rise of 33 percent in the previous 12 months leading up to October.
The opening of The Crossing last year and the Terrace earlier this year is being cited as one of the reasons behind the massive growth, with foot traffic up in several key areas of the CBD. The opening of the Tūranga central library also drew more people away from the suburbs and back into the central city. McDonald’s had previously said that they wouldn’t consider opening a store in the CBD due to low foot traffic.
Residents spent $121.7 million on food and drink, a 23 percent rise on 2017 numbers, and accounting for over half of all money spent in the CBD. However, the news comes too late for a number of popular venues. 2018 has been marked by central Christchurch restaurant closures, including The Villas, Nobanno and a series of venues owned by troubled restaurateur Tony Astle.
Central City Business Association committee member Maureen Taane said that the more the city grows, the more people will come.
“Even something as simple as introducing Lime scooters, they bring people in in a fun and exciting way,” she said. “It's just connecting the dots and giving people more than two or three reasons to spend an entire day in the city centre.”
ChristchurchNZ strategy manager Anna Elphik said that the numbers were encouraging, but there was still work to be done.
“What we're seeing is a central city that people want to spend time in, [but] we want more. We want people to see the city centre as their own living room, that they own it and that they choose to spend some of their January and Christmas holidays actually exploring their own city, not necessarily needing to do that in other parts of the country.”
