The restaurant and hospitality industry isn’t doing well at the moment. The main culprit? As you might assume, COVID-19 is mainly responsible for the state of affairs in the industry. Now, most industry branches have broken off since the pandemic has started. What makes the restaurant and hospitality industry any different?
For starters, unlike many other industries that have managed to recover – the retail business seems to be doing just fine thanks to the power of the Internet – the restaurant and hospitality industry is still suffering. From the look of things, the situation may even get worse.
How bad things are at the moment? Well, consider this, since the beginning of the COVID-19 situation, more than 7.5 million leisure and hospitality jobs have been lost. That amounts to some 38% of workers in the entire industry. More than a third of people are now jobless.
What’s more, even the people who still have jobs have had their work hours and subsequently wages significantly reduced. More than half of the employees in the hotel industry have been laid off as well. This costs the employees in the industry some $1.7 billion every week. If the situation continues, the workers might even see a $2.8 weekly loss.
The reasons for layoffs are pretty clear. The hotel occupancy in the United States has seen a historic low of 24.5% in April. Most hotel owners felt that a 35% occupancy rate is unsustainable, which puts more than 33,000 small businesses around the country at risk of closure in 2021.
And that’s just the beginning. There are many more worrisome things about the industry you should know. If you’re interested in it, check out the infographic below by kitchenall.com
Interesting Related Article: “How Are Independent Restaurants Staying Afloat Throughout COVID-19?“