December saw 166% spending rise for restaurants
“It’s encouraging to see our data shows that when lockdowns have been lifted there’s evidence of pent-up spending in the tourism and hospitality sector,” says Cathy Bryce, Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking at AIB.
It shows restaurants and fast food outlets in particular adapted to the challenges presented by Lockdown.
However Central Bank figures also report that households have saved €13.4 billion in the 12 months to the end of November, showing there’s pent-up demand and hope for the hospitality sector when it reopens fully.
The data, compiled from AIB debit and credit card transactions, has been anonymised and aggregated. This illustrates the impact of Lockdown restrictions being lifted over the Summer and for a portion of December and shows:
- Restaurants saw a Summer spree, with spending up 13.2% in August. There was a month-on-month spending rise of 181% in July while December saw a 166% month-on-month rise in spending on hospitality across the board but this was down 26.5% from 2019. Across the whole of 2020 the average restaurant spend was €19.
- Hotel spending was at its highest in August. It was up 45% month-on-month and 31% year-on-year in August and up 1,555% month-on-month in July. But for December hotel spend was down 38% year-on-year (but up 715% month-on-month).
- Dublin saw the highest overall monthly hotel spend of all counties in August, followed by Kerry, then Cork.
- Fast-food spend increased in 2020 with spend consistently high from June on as restrictions lifted, with a slight dip in November leading to a Christmas surge. In July fast-food spending was up 25% month-on-month and 31.5% year-on-year. It was up 29% year-on-year and up 7% month-on-month in August. While there was a slight dip in November, it led to a 37% month-on-month rise in December and a 12% year-on-year rise.
Tourism is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry and in a normal year employs 260,000 people. AIB sponsors the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation’s ‘Leading the Recovery’ virtual conference this Wednesday the 10th of February in UCD’s O’Reilly Hall.
“Covid has presented the tourism industry with an unprecedented challenge,” said Cathy Bryce, Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking at AIB, “It’s encouraging to see our data shows that when lockdowns have been lifted there’s evidence of pent-up spending in the tourism and hospitality sector. And through these challenging times it’s been inspiring to see hospitality businesses innovating, be it through digitalisation, offering takeaway or delivery services.”
Registrations for The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation’s ‘Leading the Tourism Recovery’ virtual conference can be made on www.itic.ie
