Hospitality Association CEO Bruce Robertson has questioned the strength of the economic recovery, saying trading conditions for its more than 2500 members were still getting worse, with winter expected to claim more victims.
He says the Hospitality Association’s members, mainly bars and restaurants, “have not seen any significant improvement” and are expecting a tough winter, with the seasonal fall in spending coming after many establishments restructured last year, in the hope that a stronger summer would sustain them through the quieter winter.

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Robertson says as well as a rise in GST and excise tax, the industry is concerned the emissions trading scheme will hit discretionary spending. The recession has also changed spending habits. He says in the other downturns NZ has had over the last 10 or 15 years, people have tended to keep spending as the value of their assets continued to rise, so they continued to spend on credit; this time we’re seeing a more structural shift with people spending less and being more careful about where they spend their money.

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