Restaurant Association CEO, Marisa Bidois, recently engaged with the Minister for Hospitality and Tourism’s office to discuss the strategy for hospitality in this portfolio. This was an important opportunity to offer targeted feedback and solutions to enhance the government’s strategy for the hospitality sector.
Four key areas were emphasized: tackling industry legacy issues, addressing skills gaps, streamlining business processes, and fostering stronger industry-government partnerships.
In the meeting we focused on proposing tangible, granular solutions, founded on the feedback from members. A number of key issues and solutions were put forward with a short highlight of some of these including:
- Showcasing and highlighting businesses with best practice processes, including those that have achieved HospoCred accreditation. Recognition could include,
- Fast-tracking of governmental applications and licenses for accredited businesses and discounted fees.
- Incorporation of HospoCred in monitoring and verification programmes.
- Addressing Work Shortages Action
- For working holiday visa agreements where visa holders can not work for the same employer for longer than three months, extend this period to a minimum of six months.
- Setting industry-specific median wage requirements instead of national median wage levels in visa requirements.
- Supporting adaptation and modernisation
- Investment in greater rural fibre connectivity and mobile coverage.
- Developing a national strategy to address food waste and subsidise recycling costs (e.g. cardboard and glass bin costs) to incentivise waste minimisation.
- Changing the perception of hospitality
- Support and promotion of positive programmes and outcomes in the hospitality industry, and direct engagement on any issues of concern instead of airing these through media.
- Ensuring the MBIE business tasked with providing advice on hospitality to the government is actively engaged with the sector, and due attention is placed on hospitality alongside tourism.
- Aligning immigration and education policies
- Support the hospitality industry to develop frameworks against which overseas registrations, certifications and training can be measured.
- Support the hospitality industry to develop frameworks against which skills and recognitions can be incorporated into immigration processes.
- Legislative and regulatory burden
- Engaging with the hospitality industry on what changes can be made to legislation that will ease the regulatory burden on our businesses, in particular: Holidays Act 2003, Shop Trading Hours Act 1990, Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 to require consideration of overseas registration, certification or relevant experience for manager’s certificate.
- Public sector engagement with and understanding of the hospitality sector
- Ensuring officials responsible for providing Ministers with advice on hospitality policy continue to engage with the Restaurant Association as well as the industry, providing regular upskilling and briefings on the state of the hospitality industry to staff across those business units which impact the hospitality portfolio.
- Work with the hospitality industry to develop New Zealand’s national and regional food stories, to incorporate into our broader tourism narrative and fill a gap in the marketing of New Zealand as a dining destination.