Collapse of hotel and restaurant revenues by over 44 percent

The coronavirus emergency has brought several economic sectors to their knees. Tourism is one of the most affected. The revenues of hotels and restaurants have dropped by more than 44%.

The estimates from the Observatory on SRL financial statements published by the National Council and Foundation of Chartered Accountants taking into account the shutdown of activities in March and April and the gradual recovery of operations in the following months.

Hotels lose over 7 billion: Lombardy most affected

The hotel accommodation sector is hit by a loss of 7.7 billion euros, equal to -54%, while the restaurant sector faces a contraction of 8.3 billion euros, equal to -37%. At the regional level, Lombardy was the most affected with a decrease of 3.5 billion euros, followed by Lazio with -2.7 billion euros and Veneto with -1.6 billion euros. The impact was due both to the decline in demand, which hit the sector even before the emergency began in Italy, and to the shutdown of activities imposed by decree to address the health emergency.

Hotels and restaurants lose 44.1%

The lockdown imposed to contain Covid19 infections will lead to a collapse in revenues in 2020 for limited liability companies (SRLs) in the sector in Italy Restaurants and hotels (72,748 companies that invoiced 37.8 billion euros in 2019), of 16.7 billion euros, equal to a drop of -44.1% compared to 2019. In particular, the hotel accommodation sector is hit by a loss of 7.9 billion euros, equal to -53.8%, while the restaurant sector faces a contraction of 8.8 billion euros, equal to -37.9%. Regionally, Lombardy was the most affected with a decrease of 3.5 billion euros, followed by Lazio with -2.7 billion euros and Veneto with -1.6 billion euros. 

The estimate was conducted on a sample of companies including all SRLs that submitted at least one financial statement in the last three available years (2016-2018). In this case, this includes 72,748 companies (53,145 operating in the restaurant sector and 19,063 in the accommodation sector), collectively accounting for a total turnover of 37.8 billion euros in 2019. It should also be noted that the estimates presented here refer exclusively to the financial statements of SRLs in the restaurant and hotel sector and are therefore not applicable to the entire sector, which, based on 2017 Istat data, consists of about 328 thousand enterprises, including about 160 thousand sole proprietorships and 90 thousand partnerships, as well as almost 3 thousand cooperatives.

The figures were calculated based on certain assumptions about the impact of the crisis caused by the coronavirus emergency, separately for SRLs in the “Accommodation” sector and those in the “Restaurant” sector. In particular, for the former the strong seasonality of production was considered, using Istat data on 2019 tourist flows broken down by quarter. To obtain annual financial estimates, two different monthly impact measures were used for the above sectors, constructed by taking into account the shutdown of activities in March and April and the gradual recovery of operations in the following months.

The assumptions made provided for declines in activity as early as January 2020. It was considered, particularly for the restaurant sector, that some activities continued even during lockdown months (for example, take-away food or certain catering and canteen services), and in any case that there would not be a complete recovery of normal levels of activity until December 2020.

A sudden crisis for a growing sector. In fact, the Observatory highlights that in 2018 in Italy, employment and revenues increased by +5.9% and +5.7%, respectively, compared to the previous year, following a recent positive trend. Among the individual productive sectors, restaurants and mobile catering performed best, while in terms of territorial macro-areas, the highest revenue growth was recorded in the South (+6.4%) and in the North West for value-added (+7.9%).

Hotel and restaurant turnover by region

A At the regional level, Basilicata ranked highest for revenue growth in the Restaurants and Hotels sector in 2018 (+9.4%), followed by Sicily (+7.1%), Emilia Romagna (7%), and Campania (+7%). The regions that instead showed the biggest declines in growth rates of sector turnover in 2018 compared to 2017 were Abruzzo (-5.7%), Molise (-3.7%), Lombardy (-3.2%), and Sardinia (-3.2%), still remaining in positive territory. Among all, Molise stands out as the only region to show a decrease in turnover in 2018 compared to 2017 (-0.4%).

Pubblicato in Hospitality, TravelNews