48% retain restaurant/hotel concerns

Some 48% of Irish adults remain concerned about going to restaurants or staying in a hotel according to business consultancy Deloitte in its latest monthly Consumer Tracker survey.

To better understand changing consumer sentiment and behaviour, Deloitte’s Consumer Tracker has been tracking monthly the relationship between “physical and financial well-being spending interactions” and the trends accelerated by the pandemic.

One year on from the beginning of the State of the Consumer Tracker, Deloitte’s latest data depict a very welcome uplift in consumer confidence and thus a positive message for the Consumer sector.

As businesses continue to reopen, this data provide key insights into how customers’ preferences and behaviours shift and how Irish businesses can manage this change.
The latest set of data, gathered between the 20th and the 26th of May, revealed key insights for hospitality and other stakeholders.

 

Consumers’ intentions for restaurants/takeaway

For example, as financial concerns plateau, consumers’ spend intent on more discretionary items for the four weeks following the survey (compared with the previous four-week period) increased majorly with spending intent on restaurants/takeaways increasing by 13% – the first time this sector has seen an increase since May 2020.

In the four weeks following the 26th of May consumers overall intended to raise their spend on restaurants/takeouts by 6% while for those in the 18-34 age group it was 13%.

The 35-54 year-old age segment intended spending 7% more on restaurant/takeout while those aged over 55 intended to spend 2% less in the next four weeks.

 

Consumer concern

Amongst the 18 to 34 year-old age group 61% were concerned about going to a restaurant while 55% were concerned about staying in a hotel.

in those aged 35 to 54, half (50%) were concerned about going to a restaurant and 49% about staying in a hotel. However only 36% of those aged over 55 were concerned about going to a restaurant while 40% were concerned about staying in a hotel.

 

Alcohol intent

Deloitte’s survey of consumer spending intentions found a net overall decrease of 4% for alcohol spend over the four week period following the 26th of May.

But the 18 to 24 year-old intents showed a 7% rise in alcohol spend over the four weeks while the 35-44 year-olds indicated that they intended to spend 7% less on alcohol and the over 55 age segment intended to spend 11% less.

 

Overall consumer confidence

Other key findings include notable increases in overall consumer confidence with those feeling safe engaging in person-to-person services at 66% (up 5%), going to a restaurant 48% (up 8%) and attending in-person events at 27% (up 5%).

More detail and global comparisons can be viewed on Deloitte’s interactive dashboard.

These surveys, designed to be nationally representative of the overall population in each market, cover 19 countries, polling 1,000 consumers in each country.