Still missing the pre-corona level
Hospitality shows a significant increase in sales
08/17/2023 11:47 am
Inflation and a lack of consumer confidence continue to affect the German hospitality industry. Industry sales are still below the pre-corona level. In a year-on-year comparison, however, the balance sheet looks better: The increase in sales of 5.8 percent is due in particular to the hotel industry.
The hospitality industry in Germany turned over significantly more in the first half of the year than in the same period of the previous year. From January to June, companies had 15.8 percent more in their tills within a year, like that Federal Statistical Office communicated. Adjusted for the rising prices, there was an increase in sales of 5.8 percent.
The growth in sales came from hotels and other accommodation companies in particular – here the real turnover rose by 17.6 percent, nominally even by 27.3 percent. Restaurants, pubs and the like recorded a real increase in sales of 1.2 percent, nominally it was 11.6 percent more than in the first half of 2022.
Still missing the pre-corona level in real terms
However, high inflation and the Germans’ lack of consumer spending continue to put a strain on hotels and restaurants. Price-adjusted (real) sales in the hospitality industry in the first half of the year were still 10.4 percent below the pre-corona level of 2019. In comparison, nominal revenues rose by 9.6 percent in the first half of 2019. In the catering industry alone, it was a real minus of 12.0 percent, but nominally a strong plus of 10.1 percent.
“The difference between the nominal and real results reflects the long-term, significant increase in price levels in the hospitality industry, to which the rising prices for food, staff and energy, among other things, are likely to have contributed,” explained the authority.
The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) is permanently demanding the reduced VAT rate for food in the catering trade. “The seven percent VAT must remain,” Dehoga President Guido Zöllick has repeatedly emphasized. Many consumers are tightening their belts because of the loss of purchasing power as a result of high inflation. The inflation rate in Germany is currently 6.2 percent. Economists assume that it will fall towards three percent by the end of the year.