With spending in April showing encouraging signs for the sector, new figures from Worldline show hospitality spending is starting to rebound.
Consumer spending at accommodation, cafés, bars, restaurants, and fast food outlets reached $892m in April.
While this spending was down 6.8 percent on April 2021 and 0.4 percent on April 2019 before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, these figures mark a sharp improvement on the previous eight months.
Relative to April 2019, spending at hospitality merchants was up 31 percent or by $8m in Wairarapa and 27 percent or $22m in Taranaki, as opposed to small annual declines seen during March. Spending in the South Island, however, was still down 10 percent or by $229m, although an improvement on the 32 percent down recorded in March.
Worldline head of data George Putnam said the new freedoms around the Covid traffic light system appeared to be encouraging more people to resume dining out.
