Higher turnover for hotels and restaurants

The hotel and restaurant sector did good business once again in the first quarter of 2006. In spite of the fact that Easter did not fall in the first quarter this year, turnover in this sector rose by 3.8 percent on the same period last year. This was the fourth quarter in a row that the hotel and restaurant sector sold more than twelve months previously, according to provisional figures from Statistics Netherlands.

Highest turnover for hotels

Hotels, boarding houses and conference centres realised the highest increases in turnover in the first quarter of 2006. Their turnover was nearly 5 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2005. For hotels, turnover rose especially strongly in March.

Modest increase for cafeterias

The increase in turnover for cafeterias lagged behind other branches in the sector. Cafeterias realised 2.3 percent more turnover than in the same quarter last year. The increase was caused mainly by the increase in prices. The volume increase was smaller, at 0.6 percent. In 2005, too, turnover for cafeterias lagged behind other branches.