The Covid-19 pandemic impacted every industry all around the world. However, hospitality is definitely one of the hardest to be hit. Many people argue that hospitality was the most affected industry and that it may now be changed for the next decade and possibly even longer.
We’ll talk more about the future of the hospitality industry later but let’s take a more in-depth look at how the hospitality sector was affected by Covid-19. There are numerous things to look at but let’s start with what we can say about the UK.
A Look At The UK
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic really can’t be underestimated. The UK Hospitality Quarterly Tracker reported that over 12 months, the UK had lost £80.8 billion pounds! Sales measured from April 2020 to March 2021 reported a total of £46 billion.
While that may undoubtedly seem impressive when you compare it to the previous 12 month total of £126.8 billion, you see clearly how much of an impact Covid-19 really had. To add these issues, an estimated 2500 pubs closed in the UK during 2020.
Which was double the amount of closures of the previous year. Mounting pub closures have been an issue for several years in the UK, and 2020 has only made a bad situation even worse. Many hospitality staff were furloughed during the lock down, and some even lost their jobs.
The fallout from the pandemic also made hospitality less appealing for people as well. It’s estimated that over 600,000 hospitality workers lost their job. While the hospitality sector shows signs of recovery, the figures show that further support is needed.
UK pubs and restaurants that are now open and are seeing staff numbers drop dramatically as well. With some industry professionals estimating that a staffing crisis in the near future is all but inevitable. Let’s take a quick look at some other countries across the world.
A Global Perspective
China is an interesting case to look at when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the virus originated in China, it was the first to feel its effects but also one of the first countries to show signs of recovery.
Despite this, however, tourism suffered greatly with an estimated 68% reduction. However, while international tourism doesn’t look overly promising, there has been a significant increase in domestic tourism numbers. Nearly 90% of hotels have also been reopened as well.
America is a difficult country to decipher due to the many different rules from state to state. However, in March 2021, its hotel occupancy was just above 52%, and the average daily rate (ADR) had dropped by 14.5% from the previous year.
In Europe, the effect has likewise been bad, but exactly how bad is yet to be uncovered fully. Estimates vary wildly, with some saying a decline of around 10% in hotel numbers but someplace it be much higher at around 30%.
So, what can we say about the hospitality sector as a whole? Well, things aren’t looking good, in all honesty. But it would be doom and gloom to say the industry won’t bounce back, but the road to recovery will likely be quite rocky and take some time to fully see.
However, if there is some good news, then the hospitality will likely come back stronger and important lessons have been learned by the pandemic. There are also still opportunities for people looking to work in hospitality as well. The next few years will certainly be challenging, but the industry will recover.