Once bustling businesses in Sydney’s CBD are on the brink of collapse, as retail and hospitality juggernauts threaten to cut staff en masse to stay afloat.

Exclusive condition survey data from Business Sydney has revealed 39 per cent of retailers, restaurants, and cafes in the CBD are forecasting major cuts to staffing numbers in the next three months, as 83 per cent report plummeting customer purchase numbers.

Businesses in the city’s heart sounding the alarm come as the latest ASIC insolvency data reveals 724 hospitality businesses closed in the last financial year across NSW, while 316 retail stores shut their doors.

Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou said businesses across the heart of Sydney are yet to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Nicolaou said the NSW Government needed to follow a 10-point plan to revive the struggling retail and hospitality industry.

The agency has called for the government to bring back restaurant and cafe vouchers, reduce payroll tax, appoint a Minister for Sydney, and encourage more businesses to open later with 9pm closing times.

“These are tough times for the CBD business community,” he said.

“The current position demonstrates why the appointment of a designated Minister for Sydney is vital to lead and co-ordinate efforts to revitalise the CBD.

“At the same time, we should not allow ourselves to be dragged into a vortex of economic gloom and doom, which could become ­self-perpetuating.”

Mr Nicolaou said more public transport options were needed late at night and early in the morning, and for state and federal government agencies to force public servants back to the office.

But he said there is a group of “never-say-die businesses” bucking the difficulties.

Avenue Group boss Philip Barbaro runs six cafes and bars across the CBD, and has closed his venues on weekends as foot tracking numbers around the CBD plummet.

He said business owners who call the city home were facing a “perfect storm” as the price of produce and staff rise while customers have less to spend and major businesses allow employees to continue to work from home.

“We are battling incredibly difficult conditions,” he said.

“Productivity and profitability is down because the city is a ghost town.

“We are good at pivoting the businesses to what the customer wants, it is the only way to survive.”

The hospitality boss said his venues see the most trade midweek, while Mondays and Fridays see significant drops in foot traffic.

The ghost-town concerns for Sydney CBD come as Business Sydney estimates 110 city businesses closed last financial year.

Restaurateur and chef Luke Mangan (pictured inset) said while customers across his Sydney venues may be “scrutinising their spending more, they are happy to pay for experiences”.

“Small businesses across Sydney and NSW are hurting, but as a ­business owner you have to adapt and be agile to get people in the door,” he said.

“Rather than going out two or three times a week, customers are choosing special locations and are on the look out for good experiences at the table.”

Mr Mangan said state and federal governments could support businesses doing it tough by giving concessions on GST and payroll taxes.

A NSW Government spokesman said the CBD would see an injection of hundreds of thousands of people when the Sydney Metro City rapid transit project opens in August.

The spokesman said the government had cut Friday public transport fares and extended services on the Inner West light rail to 1am to make it easier to get to and from the CBD.

The spokesman said the government had doubled the number of NSW venues hosting live music performances, but ruled out CBD hospitality vouchers because of their potential inflationary impact.

Editorial: Who will save Sydney’s CBD? Page 74

Business Sydney Recommendations:

1. Bring back dining vouchers for CBD restaurants and cafes to boost patronage.

2. Appoint a designated Minister for Sydney to co-ordinate business support.

3. Make CBD retail trading hours more consumer friendly, from 10am to 9pm.

4. Make more late night and early hour public transport services available.

5. Commonwealth and State bureaucracies lead the way encouraging WFH employees to return to CBD workplaces.

6. Make the most of the Sydney Metro to encourage Sydneysiders to visit CBD.

7. Increase tourism promotion to lure interstate and intrastate visitors.

8. Proper Destination NSW has funds to ensure Sydney is events capital of Australia.

9. NSW Government should give CBD hospitality venues payroll tax relief.

10. City of Sydney should offer CBD businesses relief from property rates.