Hospitality continues to lift retail spending

Hospitality continues to lift retail spending

11 March 2014

Another monthly rise in the hospitality industry has helped lift retail spending during February 2014, Statistics New Zealand said today.

When adjusted for seasonal effects, the value of electronic card spending in the retail industries rose 0.9 percent in February.

“Most of the extra spending this month was in durables and hospitality,” industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said. "Hospitality in particular has had a number of large rises in recent months."

The hospitality industry includes accommodation, bars, cafes and restaurants, and takeaways.

Electronic card spending increased in five of the six retail industries in February 2014. Durables had the biggest rise, but this followed a similar-size fall in January.

The largest retail movements in February 2014 were:
• durables, up 1.3 percent ($15 million).
• fuel, down 1.8 percent ($14 million)
• hospitality, up 1.5 percent ($11 million).

Core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) rose 1.1 percent in February 2014.

The total value of electronic card spending rose 0.6 percent.

Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series have all generally been positive since these series began in October 2002. For each series, the rate of increase has eased in recent months.

In unadjusted terms, 108 million transactions were made across all industries in February, with an average value of $53. The total amount spent across all transactions was $5.7 billion.

For more information about these statistics: Visit Electronic Card Transactions: February 2014

ENDS

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