Hospitality Business Magazine

Hospitality 2025: A Year of Collaboration, Growth, and Resilience

By Steve Armitage – Hospitality New Zealand Chief Executive.

The Christmas and New Year period has long been vital for the hospitality sector. While I’ve heard from many of Hospitality NZ’s members and others in our industry that trade has been steady in some regions, the overall picture across the motu remains patchy.

The resilience the hospitality industry has shown through recent years has been remarkable, but challenges remain. To address these challenges, we must remain positive about the year ahead and deliver to a plan that focuses on collaboration, sustainable growth, and addressing long-standing issues.

The Hospitality Summit held at Parliament in December 2024 was a real reminder that collaboration can’t be an afterthought. It must be built into how we operate as an industry. So this year, we’re not just talking about working together; we’re putting it into practice.

MOU Commitment

Collaboration is often spoken about as the solution to our industry’s challenges, but too often it remains just talk. That’s why the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Hospitality New Zealand and the Restaurant Association we signed at the Summit is so important.

This MOU represents more than a piece of paper: it’s a commitment to action, ensuring all parties involved are held accountable for delivering real outcomes. We are looking forward to sharing next steps on this in the near future.

Boom & Bust Cycle

Despite some signs of recovery, hospitality is still plagued by a “boom-and-bust” cycle. Some areas and businesses are thriving, while others are struggling. This inconsistency needs to be addressed. Key issues, like labour shortages and rising costs, continue to weigh on businesses.

The message we heard in the lead up to and during the Hospitality Summit was that better use of data can help us understand and respond to these challenges. By investing in solutions that address these fundamental issues, we can create a more stable and better-prepared sector.

Hospitality NZ and the Restaurant Association have received funding from the Tourism Data Partnership Fund to develop hospitality and restaurant spending insights, and there will be more news on data as the year progresses.

It’s also critical that we invest in skills and training to ensure the workforce is ready for future demands. The findings from the Summit will guide this work, helping us align training initiatives with the sector’s needs.

Local Body Elections

Advocacy is another key focus for 2025. Our efforts on behalf of hospitality will be transparent, aligned with its needs, and focused on achieving meaningful outcomes. We’ve made progress in engaging with the government and other stakeholders, but there’s more to do – especially so given that local body elections will take place later in the year.

My hope for this year is that the hard work and sacrifices made by hospitality operators over the past few years pays off. The stress and strain endured should lead to real rewards. Hospitality NZ and our partners will continue to work hard to help the industry achieve this.