By Marisa Bidois, CEO of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand
Let’s be honest, Auckland’s city centre hasn’t exactly been buzzing after dark lately.
For New Zealand’s biggest city, the main arrival point for international visitors and home to a large part of the country’s population, the nighttime experience should offer more.
As the voice of 2,500 hospitality businesses across Aotearoa, we know what it takes to make a city feel alive after hours. Spoiler: it’s food, drink, and a good time delivered with energy, atmosphere, and the kind of buzz that makes you want to stay out a little longer.
There’s plenty to build on. Giving different precincts their own personality and story is a smart move. When areas have a distinct identity, people engage more deeply, they stay longer, spend more, and come back more often. A focus on the overall experience is equally important. Heading into the city at night should feel exciting and welcoming, not empty or uncertain.
Thriving After Dark
But for this momentum to stick, hospitality can’t just be a backdrop to someone else’s show. There’s often lots of talk about events, installations, and creative activations but not nearly enough support for the venues that are open day in, day out, keeping the lights on and offering real experiences. If we want a city that truly thrives after dark, we need to put hospitality at the centre of the conversation.
What’s currently missing is clear and fixable. Support for venues to get involved in events or campaigns remains vague. Licensing processes are often too rigid, and there are few clear pathways for businesses to be part of larger activations. Safety and transport are also critical pieces of the puzzle. Hospitality staff and late-night customers need reliable public transport, well-lit streets, and visible safety measures to feel confident and comfortable staying out later.
And while one-off events bring short-term attention, they can’t carry the weight of a city’s nighttime economy. The long game depends on strengthening the businesses that operate year-round.
That’s why we welcomed the recent announcement of a new $25 million Major Events Fund and $5 million Tourism Innovation Fund — tools that could, and should, help breathe life into our urban centres. To maximise their impact, we’d like to see part of this funding directed toward projects that actively support hospitality operators, whether through precinct-level event planning, after-hours dining trails, or activations that give permanent venues a real seat at the table.
Creative Thinking Required
There are plenty of practical, cost-effective steps we can take right now. Establishing a cross-sector advisory group would ensure hospitality, transport, retail, and the arts can work together on delivery. A dedicated activation fund would help venues put on themed nights, stay open longer, or dial up what they already do well. Streamlining licensing processes, investing in late-night buses and lighting, and offering commercial incentives, like reduced outdoor dining fees or staff parking support, would also make a real difference.
And rather than creating new discovery tools from scratch, we should partner with existing platforms to promote what’s open and what’s on. Crucially, we need to track what’s working, monitoring foot traffic, spend, and trading hours will help guide improvements and keep everyone accountable.
Auckland should be a place where people want to stay out, not head home early. We’ve got the talent, the venues, and the energy now it’s about backing them properly.
With the right support, investment, and collaboration, Auckland can get its groove back with hospitality leading the way.