Lower turnover for hotels and restaurant sector in first quarter of 2004

The hotel and restaurant sector booked 0.8 percent less turnover in the first quarter of this year than in the same period lat year according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. In the last quarter of 2003, turnover in this sector was still slightly higher than twelve months previously.

With an increase of 1.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, prices in hotels and restaurants rose significantly more slowly than they have done in recent years. The volume of turnover fell by 2 percent net, continuing the downward trend of recent years.

Largest fall for cafeterias

Turnover in cafeterias was 3.9 percent lower in the first quarter of 2004 than in the same quarter last year. Prices in these establishments rose by 1.2 percent; therefore turnover volume was 5.1 percent lower than in the first quarter of 2003. This is the second quarter in a row that turnover volume in cafeterias fell by more than that in other branches of the hotel and restaurant sector.

Turnover also down for hotels and restaurants

Hotels booked 0.9 percent less turnover in the first quarter of this year than in the same period last year. Restaurants, too, reported a slight fall in turnover, namely 0.1 percent. As the lower turnover in restaurants was accompanied by a price increase of 1.2 percent, the turnover volume fell by a net 1.3 percent.

Turnover up in pubs and bars

Pubs and bars booked 0.7 percent more turnover in the first quarter of 2004 than twelve months previously. Here the price increase of 2.2 percent far exceeded the increase in turnover, so that turnover volume fell by 1.5 percent. The volume of turnover in pubs and bars compared with twelve months previously has been decreasing since the first quarter of 2001, that is now thirteen successive quarters.

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