The Council of Capital City Lord Mayors (CCCLM) has released the Measuring the Australian Night Time Economy report, which shows encouraging results for the country’s night time economy (NTE).
The report covers the 2021/2022 financial year, and despite the impact of Covid restrictions for part of this period, there is positive news for businesses and sectors operating in the NTE.
The report states: “The number of core NTE businesses increased between June 2021 and June 2022, bringing the total to 131,373 (+8.1k / + seven percent). The strongest growth was in the Leisure & Entertainment subsector (+4.3k / +12 percent), with more than half of the increase coming from Creative & Performing Arts activities (+2.6k).
“The food (+3.4k / + four percent) and beverage (+429 / + five percent) subsectors also experienced growth. At June 2022, there were 20,438 more core NTE businesses in Australia than before the pandemic in June 2019 (+ 18 per cent), demonstrating that the sector remains resilient despite the external challenges it has faced in recent years.
“In the 2021/22 financial year, NTE’s core businesses generated revenue of $146 billion. This represents a 10 per cent increase on 2020/21 and is five per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2018/19, however inflation has increased by 7.6 per cent since the pandemic (4.4 per cent since 2020/21), leaving the sector slightly behind 2018/19 in real terms.
“As with the number of establishments, the strongest percentage growth was in the recreation and entertainment subsector (+$5.5 billion / +14 per cent), driven by creative and performing arts activities (+$1.3 billion / +22 per cent) and sports and physical recreation activities (+$2.1 billion / +14 per cent).
“Despite a small increase (one per cent) in core NTE employment between June 2021 and June 2022, core NTE employment in June 2022 was -6 per cent lower than in pre-pandemic June 2019 (66,000 fewer workers). The leisure and hospitality subsector had -35k fewer jobs in June 2022 than in June 2019 (-12 percent), and employment in this subsector fell four percent (-11k employees) between June 2021 and June 2022.
“Employment trends are at odds with turnover growth, which could be due to firms’ uncertainty about future revenues in a changing market situation. Inflation, staff shortages and a move towards more contactless transactions could also be contributing factors.”
Looking at the Beverages sub-sector, the report states that in 2021/22 we reached 9457 establishments, with sales turnover increasing by five percent to $21.9 billion. This performance was largely driven by pubs, taverns and bars, where sales increased by nine per cent to $12.4 billion, while off-trade sales increased slightly to $9.6 billion (from $9.5 billion).
For each state and territory, the report said: “The Northern Territory had the largest percentage increase in turnover (+21 per cent) and employment (+16 per cent), leaving it three per cent below its pre-pandemic peak.
“New South Wales experienced the largest absolute increase in core NTE employment (+14,015 / + five per cent), largely driven by the food subsector (+ seven per cent), although core NTE employment remained 14 per cent below 2018/19 levels.
“In Victoria, the number of establishments increased by seven per cent, driven mostly by a 17 per cent increase in Leisure and Entertainment (particularly Creative and Performing Arts +20 per cent), although many were not employing. Turnover grew nine per cent, but employment fell five per cent from 2020/21, mostly due to job losses in Leisure & Entertainment.
“In Queensland, employment remained stable, but there was a significant increase in sales turnover (+16 per cent) due to a particularly strong performance in Leisure & Entertainment (+20 per cent). Sales turnover in this activity returned to 2018/19 levels, and core NTE sales surpassed their pre-pandemic peak.
“Western Australia and the ACT exceeded both pre-pandemic employment and sales turnover levels. In 2021/22, employment in Western Australia increased by 11 per cent and sales turnover by 18 per cent compared to 2018/19, while employment and sales turnover in the ACT increased by one per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
“In comparison, employment in South Australia and Tasmania fell by eight per cent and 14 per cent respectively in 2021/22, particularly in the food subsector. These declines mean that core NTE employment in both states remains below pre-pandemic levels by 11 per cent and three per cent respectively, offsetting the strong recovery experienced by each region in 2020/21.”
The full report, which also details the performance of member cities Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Maroondah, Newcastle, Parramatta, Penrith, Perth and Sydney, is available on the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors website.
