The corona pandemic has hit the hospitality industry hard – prescribed closures and other measures have left their mark. Even if things are looking up again, there is still a lot of catching up to do.
Erfurt (dpa/th) – The Thuringian hospitality industry is recovering from the effects of the corona pandemic, but has not yet reached the pre-crisis level again. In the first half of the year, according to the State Office for Statistics on Monday, the industry sold 63.6 percent more than in the same period last year, adjusted for price. With a nominal increase of 72.1 percent, sales were significantly higher than in the same period of the previous year. The number of employees also rose sharply by more than ten percent compared to the first half of 2021.
The increase in sales was particularly high in the accommodation sector. According to the information, Thuringian hotels, inns and guesthouses achieved a price-adjusted 148.2 and nominal 163.1 percent more sales in the first half of the year than in the same period of the previous year. Gastronomy was able to record a price-adjusted increase in sales of 37.3 percent and nominally 45.1 percent.
The statisticians pointed out that when looking at the strong growth in the first half of the year, it should be noted that, particularly in the first half of 2021, there were strong losses in sales and a drop in employees due to corona-related measures.
According to the statisticians, the comparison with the period before Corona shows that sales in the Thuringian hospitality industry in the first half of the year, adjusted for price, were still 27.9 percentage points below the value achieved in the first half of 2019. A decline of 21.5 percentage points was recorded in nominal sales. The number of employees was even higher before Corona: According to the statistical office, in the first half of the year it was 17.5 percentage points below the level achieved in the first half of 2019.
