Hospitality industry loses £30b of sales in the second quarter of 2020
The UK's hospitality sector saw sales plummet 87% in the second quarter of 2020 – equivalent to nearly £30b in lost revenue, according to the latest UKHospitality Tracker collated by CGA.
The catastrophic collapse in sales followed the widespread lockdown of restaurants, pubs, bars, hotels, attractions and other hospitality venues from mid-March. As a result, sales from April and June totalled just £4.6b, down by £29.6b from £34.2b in the second quarter of 2019.
The UKHospitality Tracker combined data from all segments of hospitality and confirmed the enormous and disproportionate impact of lockdown on the industry. Hospitality contributed £133.5b to the UK economy in 2019, following 3.9% growth—but the rolling annual value of the sector has now dipped below £100b, with 12-month sales to the end of June totalling £97.2b. The cliff-edge drop signals the pressing need for extensive and sustained support over the rest of 2020 and beyond.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: "These latest figures highlight how precarious the present situation is. While it's great that some businesses are trading again, for many opening their doors remains unviable, while some parts of hospitality are still legally required to stay closed. We are only on the very first steps in a long recovery. These figures substantiate our message that businesses still need support from government, if we want to avoid more business failures and job losses."
Phil Tate, group chief executive of CGA, said: "Our tracker data is the clearest picture yet of the calamitous impact of the pandemic on hospitality. Hospitality was one of the first sectors to go into full-on lockdown and one of the last to come out, and the result was a virtual wipeout of sales in the second quarter. This is a resilient and dynamic industry, and its reopening in July has given the whole country a lift, but Covid-19 has brought unprecedented and existential challenges. Hospitality needs and deserves the support of the government and public as it begins the long road to recovery."
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