Expenditure on recreation and culture

IBISWorld forecasts household expenditure on recreation and culture to rise by 1.4% in 2023-24, to $18.32 billion. Recreation and culture expenditure is expected to rise as cost-of-living pressures on household's ease slightly, primarily due to inflationary pressures reducing on essential goods, despite inflation remaining high. The removal of COVID-19 assistance is measures is expected to place pressure on discretionary spending on recreation and culture. Heightened migration is likely to boost population growth, also contributing to growth in spending on recreation and culture in New Zealand in 2023-24.

Household expenditure on recreation and culture as a proportion of total household consumption expenditure has been relatively stable from 2002-03 to 2018-19, ranging from 9.3% to 9.8% of total consumption throughout the period. Over the three years through 2022-23, this proportion jumped above 10.0%, when expenditure on recreation and cultural activities grew substantially following a sharp rise in discretionary income over the period. Growing consumption on recreation and culture has been partially fuelled by a rise in the number of subscription television subscribers and increased pet ownership and pet-related expenditure. The COVID-19 outbreak accelerated this trend, as unprecedented levels of government stimulus contributed to a sharp rise in real household discretionary income for New Zealand households. Expenditure was further fuelled by restrictions on substitute spending, such as outbound travel.

Strong growth in household discretionary incomes over a majority of the past five years has supported an expansion in household expenditure on recreation and culture. Discretionary incomes have also been boosted by low interest rates during the earlier part of the period. In addition, greater government expenditure on recreation and culture has increased community engagement with related activities, notably, Maori culture and traditions. However, intermittent pandemic-related lockdowns caused disruptions to events, cinemas, and other public-gathering activities, which limited an otherwise strong growth over the five-year period. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts expenditure on recreation and culture to grow at a compound annual rate of 3.6% over the five years through 2023-24.