Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said that the latest comprehensive analysis of the UK hospitality market, which combined data from all sub-segments of the sector, the ‘cliff edge impact’ of the Government-imposed lockdown could be seen with hospitality among the first sectors impacted by the crisis.
The drop in trading across the nation’s pubs, hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs and attractions in the first three months of the year is concentrated in March as figures show total annualised sales across the hospitality sector at £126.8bn, down 2.7% on the previous 12 months.
The total value of the sector to the UK economy at the end of 2019 was £133.5bn, and Nicholls said it would be a long time before that level is reached again.
“The scale of the fall underlines the severe impact the Covid-19 crisis and the lockdown imposed by the Government from March 23rd has already had on the sector,” she said.
“At the end of December, the industry had seen year-on-year growth running at 3.9% - the turnaround has been dramatic and will only get worse in the coming quarter. A continuation of business support is the only way to avoid a bloodbath of job losses and company failures in the hospitality sector, one of the UK economy’s jewels in the crown.”
Data for the new UKHospitality Quarterly Tracker has been compiled by the market’s leading insight and data provider CGA, using its own Trading Index and OPM data on food and drink sales across the on-trade, combined with hotel data supplied by STR and fast food market data supplied by NPD Group’s Crest Panel, direct company contributions and complemented with ONS statistics.