INTRODUCTION

Last year’s report set out the initial devastating impacts of COVID-19 on Australia’s night time economy during the first three months of the pandemic, to June 2020. Since then, much has changed for the night time economy – and Australia as a whole – as society transitions towards ‘COVID normal’.

While lockdowns look to be a thing of the past, the sector still faces uncertainty and challenges such as ongoing staff shortages and cost of living rises. Additionally, night time economy businesses continue to adapt to changes to consumer demand caused by increased working flexibility, with recent data indicating that there has been a stall in office workers returning to Australia’s CBDs1 .

While there have been challenges for the sector across Australian cities, many councils have recognised the importance of their night time economies in reactivating their CBDs. The opportunity has been taken to develop new strategies and action plans to support night time economy businesses going forward. Cities have also been keen to develop partnerships between the business community and government to foster successful night time initiatives. All these initiatives put Australia’s night time economy in a stronger position for the future – a welcome outcome following the hardships experienced by many businesses over the last couple of years.

This report analyses data for the 2020/21 financial year, at a time when Australia was entering its third wave of the pandemic and the Delta variant was beginning to gain traction. Borders remained closed to international tourists, but pandemic restrictions were easing in many cities, and the race to vaccinate the Australian population was underway. In many instances, the steep falls in employment and sales observed during the first three months had begun to be reversed and, as explored in the Looking to the Future report, there was a general sense of optimism. This is reflected in Figure 1, where Google Mobility data trends highlight that visits to retail and recreation premises had returned to 10% less than the prepandemic baseline. That being said, the advent of the Omicron variant later in 2021 led to further challenges for the sector (also visible in Figure 1).

Figure 1: Australian retail and recreation mobility

Reporting period: 2020/21 financial year

This year’s report begins by investigating the impacts to 2020/21 on Australia as a whole, before an analysis of state and territory trends. This is followed by a review of trends and local government initiatives in CCCLM member cities.

The report offers continuity of evidence to support the development of Australia’s night time economy during the continued challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.