WELLINGTON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Spending on eating out and accommodation plunged more than 300 million NZ dollars (180 million U.S. dollars) or almost one-third in March in the wake of measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, New Zealand's statistics department Stats NZ said on Thursday.
Groceries had record-high sales in March, but retail card spending fell across the board during the month from clothes to fuel, Stats NZ said.
Total retail sales fell 3.9 percent in March, the biggest fall on record in both percentage and dollar terms, it said.
Efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the last couple of months led to the closure of all non-essential businesses and people were told to stay at home from midnight March 25, retail statistics manager Sue Chapman said in a statement.
"This hit hospitality hard. Restaurants, cafes and bars, as well as hotels, motels, and other accommodation, saw sales drop sharply," Chapman said, adding spending on hospitality fell the most of any retail industries in dollar terms.
"Hospitality was also affected by fewer international visitors due to travel restrictions since February," she said, adding the border restrictions came into effect from midnight March 19 to almost all travelers, except returning New Zealanders.
Fuel consumption, and sales of clothes and shoes were all down due to New Zealand moving into the COVID-19 Alert System from March 21, which restricted all non-essential travel.
Meanwhile, groceries (consumables) sales jumped 376 million NZ dollars, or 17 percent, in March, statistics showed.
"This is the largest dollar value and percentage increase in grocery sales since the retail card spending series began in 2002," Chapman said.
Supermarkets remain open as an essential business and there have been widespread reports of people stocking up on food as the month progressed.
