Hospitality investment slumps 52% in Q1
According to Catax, UK business investment in hotels and restaurants fell £702m from Q1 FY20’s £1.4bn to £639m the following year
Investment in the hospitality industry reportedly dropped 52% year-on-year to £649m in the first three months of 2021.
According to analysis of ONS data conducted by business tax relief consultancy group Catax, UK business investment in hotels and restaurants fell £702m from Q1 FY20’s £1.4bn of investments.
The figure also represents a 27.7% decline from the previous quarter, and a wider drop than the 10.7% quarterly decrease in UK business investment as a whole.
Overall, business investment declined 16.9% year-on-year during the quarter to sit 17.3% below pre-pandemic levels of Q4 FY19.
Elsewhere, UK GDP shrank 1.6% in the period, down 6.1% when compared to Q1 FY20, and 8.8% below the final unaffected quarter before the pandemic,
Mark Tighe, CEO at Catax, said: “The hospitality industry hasn’t been out of the news over the past 18 months as the sector’s woes have closely tracked the nation’s fitful attempts to rid itself of Covid restrictions.
“The end is now finally in sight and, with it, the sector should see the back of such dramatic variations in its levels of business investment. A long-awaited recovery is well on the way.”