Friday 24 January 2025
Hon. Nicola Willis
Minister for Economic Growth
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
n.willis@ministers.govt.nz
Tēnā koe Minister Willis,
Cooking with gas: supporting economic growth in the Hospitality industry
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you for taking on the new Economic Growth portfolio, and thank you for your work to date across all of your portfolios. I particularly appreciated the opportunity to support your announcement of changes to the rules regarding working from home for public servants, and I hope to continue that relationship in your new role.
At the outset, I wanted to outline the Restaurant Association’s role within the broader hospitality industry, which can be thought of as being made up of three sectors: food and beverage, accommodation, and entertainment. The Restaurant Association is the largest representative body focusing on the food and beverage sector of hospitality; our more than 2,500 members cover the length and breadth of the country and are primarily businesses where food is the hero of their operations – from some of the most renowned restaurants in the country to the casual food truck at a local weekend market, we advocate for them all.
It is in that capacity that I wanted to bring to your attention two opportunities that would significantly raise the hospitality sector’s contribution to New Zealand’s economic growth: bringing the Michelin guide onshore, and a focus on major events.
Bringing the Michelin guide to New Zealand
This would provide a significant boost to the food and beverage sector of the hospitality industry, as well as our culinary tourism off ering as a country. Michelin-starred establishments can often become tourism destinations in their own right, generating and raising up a local economy around them. Anecdotally, we’re even aware of small towns and villages across Europe that have seen substantial increases in visitor numbers after local restaurants have earned a Michelin-star.
While the exact cost of bringing the Michelin guide to New Zealand is usually determined through formal negotiations, it is not uncommon for the guide to be in some financial agreement with tourism boards and international governments to initiate market entry, and we are preparing to engage directly with Michelin to better understand their requirements to enter New Zealand.
What we do know is that Michelin has been travelling further afield of late to launch inaugural country guides around the world. From publicly available reporting, cost approximations to bring the Michelin guide onshore have included 1.5 million euro ($2.7 million NZD) for Tel Aviv, 3.2 billion won over four years ($3.9 million NZD) for South Korea and 144 million baht over five years ($7 million NZD) for Thailand.
Recognising that the up-front cost of attracting Michelin to New Zealand could be a concern for the Government, we are also liaising with the Restaurant and Catering Association in Australia to work together on a trans-Tasman proposal to bring Michelin to both of our countries, in the hopes of agreeing to an arrangement with Australia to ensure that both markets can share both the costs and benefits of Michelin, and avoid one country winning out over the other.
Major events and infrastructure
I have heard from many of our members that they are particularly interested in the Government’s approach to major events, particularly in response to an article published by Stuff on 14 October. In response, I have written to your colleague Dr. Carlos Cheung to express our support for his members’ bill (the Resource Management (Concerts) Amendment Bill) which would ensure that consent authorities must grant on application a minimum of 15 consents per year, per major stadium, for concerts.
We see this as a significant step forward for major stadia across the country, however, we also recognise that live music and stadium tours alone are not the solution to all of our challenges. As such, I would value an opportunity to meet with you to learn more about your plans for the economic growth portfolio, both with regard to major events, but also to identify potential synergies which could be accelerated by partnering with hospitality.
I would be happy to host you at our Head Off ice in Mt Eden, to meet with you in Wellington, or to meet online should that be most convenient. Appreciating the pressures on your schedule which may make a meeting diff icult to schedule, I look forward to hearing about your priorities for the Economic Growth portfolio over the coming weeks as relevant announcements are made.
While the past few years — marked by the pandemic, natural disasters and economic uncertainty — have wreaked havoc on the hospitality industry, we are optimistic about what 2025 will bring. Our businesses are preparing for a busy year ahead, with the adage “thrive in ‘25” being adopted by many as a sign of hope for the year ahead.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance to you in the meantime, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Ngā mihi nui,
Marisa Bidois
Chief Executive
Restaurant Association of New Zealand