Businesses running sports competitions, concerts, weddings, and other big events were among the hardest hit by COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, Stats NZ said today.
This sector, known as arts and recreation services, faced limits on crowd sizes and social distancing because of COVID, forcing the cancellation of large gatherings.
Almost all businesses in these fields were unable to operate fully during alert levels 3 and 4, and only a small number were partly operational.
"Similarly, businesses running hotels, motels, and other accommodation, as well as restaurants, bars, cafes, and other food service providers, struggled with the COVID-19 shutdown and related impacts on tourism," business statistics manager Geraldine Duoba said.
Of firms across all industries, only 1 in 5 remained fully operational during alert level 4. In general, businesses with more employees were more likely to remain fully operational during all alert levels in 2020.
| Industry | Percentage |
| Financial & insurance services | 60 |
| "Agriculture | 55 |
| forestry | 42 |
| & fishing" | 35 |
| "Professional | 31 |
| scientific | 29 |
| & technical services" | 27 |
| Information media & telecommunications | 21 |
| "Electricity | 21 |
| gas | 20 |
| water | 17 |
| & waste services" | 12 |
| "Transport | 10 |
| postal | 7 |
| & warehousing" | 6 |
| Health care & social assistance | 3 |
| Retail trade | 0 |
| Administrative & support services | 0 |
| Wholesale trade | |
| Mining | |
| Manufacturing | |
| "Rental | |
| hiring | |
| & real estate services" | |
| Other services | |
| Education & training | |
| Accommodation & food services | |
| Construction | |
| Arts & recreation services |
Many businesses changed the way they ran their operations to adapt to the impacts of COVID-19.
"Almost 1 in 5 businesses reduced the range of goods and services they offered," Ms Duoba said.
Businesses introduced other changes during the COVID-19 lockdown.
- Almost half of all businesses increased or introduced online communication.
- Four out of five businesses made changes to the physical environment to meet social distancing requirements.
- Over half of all businesses supported their staff to work remotely.
- Almost one-quarter of businesses increased or adopted online selling of goods and services.
The business operations survey reports on businesses with six or more employees.
Businesses were surveyed from August to December 2020 about how they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
