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The Restaurants Association is urging the government to step up with tax cuts, as many of its members report losses from the Covid-19 travel ban.
It says $50 million a week is being lost across New Zealand's tourism sector, and with over 130,000 workers across the restaurant industry, some owners have no choice but to lay off staff.
"It's very upsetting to hear businesses struggling like this," Restaurants Association chief executive Marisa Bidois told Checkpoint.
"We're talking about people who are reasonably reliant on tour groups coming through."
Over the last month she said she has heard from business owners in desperate situations, asking for advice as they face closure.
"We don't know how long this will go on for its, we're sort of in the dark here.
"We would really like the government to step up and perhaps look at some tax cuts potentially for businesses, and we'd really like to see a solid plan for when the travel bans are lifted, exactly how our industry and wider industries can look to sort of recover from this.
"We are open to assistance from the government for our businesses. Hospitality contributes a large amount to the economy in general, and we'd really like to see them supported by government."
She said she is looking forward to getting more information in a meeting with the Tourism Minister next week.
"I think New Zealand is in a great position, we are a very popular destination [for] many different countries around the world. So we are in a good position and I think we will certainly recover."