Food and drink spending was lower this Valentine's Day, the latest spending data shows, indicating dining out was ditched in favour of dinner dates at home.
Florists and watch and jewellery merchants benefited from an increase in spending similar to previous years, but spending across food and liquor merchants was lower.
A report released by digital payments provider Worldline on Thursday shows compared to the previous Tuesday, Kiwis forked out an extra $1.7 million on flowers, watches and jewellery on Valentine's Day.
Food and liquor merchant spending was up by $1.9 million. While spending on food and drink (including dining out) did spike, Worldline head of data George Putnam said it was lower than the previous two years.
"In previous years, we've seen the spending totals on dining out spike on and around Valentine's Day. This didn't occur this year to the same extent," Putnam said.
Although the stereotypical 'romantic dinner' accounts for only a part of the total dining out spend, Putnam said the "modest spike" in spending this Valentine's Day suggests Kiwis did celebrate - but just "did it a little differently".
In the week leading up to Valentine's Day (February 8 to 14), Cantabrians spent around 675 percent more on florists and jewellers, an increase higher than any other region, data shows.
Spending across the hospitality sector nationwide (including accommodation) over the first 14 days of February was $359 million, down 14.3 percent on the same time last year.
By comparison, spending across the rest of the core retail sector was unchanged at $1.3 billion.
"It's clear the dampening effect of COVID-19 that we saw beginning in late January has increased this month," Putnam added.
According to latest New Zealand Restaurant Association figures, 88 percent of hospitality businesses have seen a drop in customers, chief executive Marisa Bidois telling Newshub many are facing "30 percent drops in revenue".
