Canberra has nearly 30 per cent more night spots now than before the COVID-19 pandemic and the capital has avoided a drop in the number of places to go out for a drink despite a national decline in the past year, a new report says.
While industry leaders and operators warn the sector is under sustained pressure, the report on Australia's night-time economy found the number of businesses in the ACT was still growing but adding fewer extra jobs, suggesting new players were likely small venues.
The report, commissioned from Ingenium Research by the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors, showed a 1.2 per cent drop in drinks venues in the past financial year across Australia, while national sales turnover in the core night-time economy rose 4 per cent to $196 billion.
In the ACT, the number of drinks venues stayed flat, making up 5 per cent of the core night-time economy in the capital.
"Drink was unchanged on both counts - 128 establishments and 2245 employees - a notable result given the national decline of -1.2 per cent in venues," the report said.
The report found there were 2350 night-time economy (NTE) businesses in the ACT, up 2 per cent from the previous financial year, and 66 per cent were open between 6pm and 9pm, just below the national city average of 67 per cent.
Sales turnover rose in the ACT to $4.9 billion, up 4 per cent in line with national growth, and the core night-time economy businesses employed 32,505, up by 300 positions after a year of modest growth. Most of the new jobs were in food businesses.
"The city's NTE has expanded substantially since the pandemic, with 29 per cent more businesses than in 2018-19 and employment 9 per cent higher. Core NTE sales turnover grew 4 per cent to $4.9 billion - or +0.9 per cent in real terms, slightly ahead of the city's establishment and employment growth," the report, produced annually since 2012, said.
In May, Thursday was Canberra's busiest evening for core night-time economy businesses, but Friday and Saturday were the peak nights for trade after 9pm.
"Sunday trading is relatively strong at 45 per cent in the evening. This is above several larger cities, suggesting that Canberra's NTE has developed a robust seven-day character," the report said.
An ACT parliamentary inquiry is examining the ACT's night-time economy and has heard evidence from nightspot operators that trading conditions are worse now than they had ever been. Submissions to the inquiry highlighted multiple systemic and regulatory issues choking business in and around Canberra's city centre after 6pm.
Josh Dotta, the director of Fiction Club, ONE 22 and Vent nightclub, in May told the inquiry the government overlooked the fact that businesses looked to cut staff when costs rose, instead focusing on apparent higher turnover and the number of businesses in operation.
"The workforce is drastically reducing in the city because, one, the customers are reducing, and the turnover is increasing because the costs are so high. So we are reducing the kids, and it is just going to keep going down. The turnover might eventually then catch up to it and start reducing, because it is no longer viable for them to come out," Mr Dotta said at a public hearing.
"But the turnover is more because the businesses that are surviving, we are having to be vigilant, we are having to adapt and we are doing everything we can to increase the turnover. How long that will last, who knows? And how much further can we keep cutting our employees until it is not viable? That is the question."
Mr Dotta said more establishments might be opening but were running with fewer employees.
"I have gone to some new venues on Northbourne Avenue, and the owner is in there with their mother, and the mother cannot even speak much English. Regardless of that, that is just showing you where these small businesses in this night-time economy are at. They are having to bring in family members that are working for free," he said.
Night-Time Economy Minister Tara Cheyne told the inquiry that there were real issues facing the sector but the government had worked to make integrated improvements possible.
"If the message about Civic on a Friday night is that it is empty, dangerous and nothing is on, the next Friday it will be emptier. Operators, government and the community at large have a collective interest in not running that loop against ourselves," Ms Cheyne said.
Australian Hotels Association ACT general manager Chris Gatfield told the inquiry the decline of young people drinking was another headwind the industry faced.
A night-time economy "monoculture" of places that only served alcohol was a problem for young people who wanted to enjoy other things, like live music or an art exhibition, and any audience development strategy needed to do more than find ways to keep existing businesses open late, he said.
"It needs to focus on having a holistic night-time economy that offers something for the people who do not necessarily - and I cannot believe I am saying this in a public inquiry - want to participate in what my member venues offer," Mr Gatfield said.
A Flinders University study in February showed Generation Z Australians, born between 1997 and 2012, were 20 times less likely to choose to drink alcohol than Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964.
"Younger Australians are growing up in a different world - one where abstaining from alcohol is increasingly normal, and where digital socialising, rising living costs, and health awareness are reshaping how people spend their time and money," said study co-author Kirrilly Thompson, a senior research fellow at the university's college of medicine and public health.
