Hotel, restaurant & bar spend up 13.4%

Spending in the Hotels, Restaurants & Bars sector grew 13.4% in the year to May according to Visa Europe’s Consumer Spending Index which reports that the rate of growth in this category was the fastest in three months.

Irish consumer expenditure across all payment types (cash, cheques and electronic) continued to rise sharply in the year to May with spending up 9.2% year-on-year, slightly slower than the 9.6% rise to April but still among the strongest in the 21-month history so far.

Rising expenditure was recorded across each of the eight broad sectors covered by the report with Food, Beverages & Tobacco registering a modest but slightly faster increase in spend.

“The latest data from the Irish Consumer Spending Index is another boost for the economy and it’s positive to see all sectors benefit from increases in expenditure levels,” commented Philip Konopik, Country Manager for Ireland at Visa Europe, “Ireland’s participation in Summer sporting events will have benefited a number of sectors.”

Andrew Harker, Senior Economist at researcher Markit, added, “The Visa data suggest that the current environment of rising wages, falling unemployment and a lack of inflationary pressure is continuing to encourage consumers to spend money.”