UK Hospitality sector responsible for a quarter of the country's fall in GDP

The Staff Canteen

Editor

Last week the office for national statistics (ONS) revealed that The British economy slumped by 20.4% in April.

As per its Hospitality Tracker, the CGA now estimates that a quarter of those losses are accounted for by the hospitality sector.

Turnovers in the industry were down 90% over the same period, and, since the Coronavirus took our economy by storm, it is thought that the sector has been responsible for some 32.7% of lost GDP for the country.

The research estimates that as the crisis continues to unfold, there will likely be an overall reduction in the number of pubs, bars and restaurants of between 20% and 30%.

Futhermore, it states that this number could be much higher in the event that revenues continue to be affected - meaning the reopening of the sector is ever more crucial to its survival.

Phil Tate, CGA group chief executive commented: “The UK’s hospitality sector employs over 3 million people and is a huge generator of revenues for the Government. Reopening is as soon as possible is vital not just for these businesses, but to enable the whole economy to be able to recover,”

Kate Nicholls of UKHospitality commented: “This decline has been shockingly acute and graphically illustrates the importance of hospitality and tourism to the UK economy.

“The corresponding recovery can be as equally dramatic but we must be given a date to reopen by the 4^th of July and we must be given the right conditions, with a distancing rule of one metre, and the right on-going support by the government to aid hospitality’s recovery, and to enable as many businesses as possible to survive, protecting jobs and communities.”

The news comes as the UK hospitality sector is set to reopen on July 4th, if the government deems that the five criteria for relaxing lockdown measures further have been met: that is, that the NHS is able to cope, a 'sustained and consistent' fall in the daily death rate, that the transmission rate is decreasing to 'manageable levels,' ensuring that the supply of tests and PPE can meet future demands, and lastly that adjustments wouldn't risk a second peak.

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