Turnover accommodation and food services sector up by over 8 percent in Q1

Q1 2024 is the twelfth consecutive quarter in which the accommodation and food services sector generated more turnover than one year previously. The last quarter in which turnover in the catering industry shrank was Q1 2021, when various measures to limit the spread of coronavirus were still in place.

Largest turnover increase in restaurants

In Q1 2024, turnover in accommodation services, which includes hotels and holiday parks, increased by 8.3 percent year on year. Hotels achieved 7.9 percent more turnover than in Q1 2023. Holiday rentals and camping sites recorded a turnover increase of 9.2 percent.

The turnover of food and beverage outlets increased by 8.0 percent compared with Q1 2023. Restaurants recorded the largest turnover increase in the accommodation and food services sector at 9.4 percent. Canteens and catering recorded a turnover increase of 7.2 percent, and cafés increased their turnover by 7.0 percent. Fast food restaurants recorded the smallest increase in turnover at 6.7 percent.

Sentiment improves in the accommodation and food services sector

Business confidence in accommodation and food services increased from -13.5 at the beginning of Q1 2024 to -4.6 at the beginning of Q2 2024. Businesses in this sector were less negative about the economic climate in the past three months and considerable less negative about the economic outlook for the next three months. At the start of Q2, business confidence in most Dutch sectors has improved, but is still negative overall.

New statistics for the accommodation and food services sector and other services

Due to new European regulations, changes have been made to CBS statistics on the accommodation and food services sector and other business services, among others, as of 2024. In addition to turnover (value of goods and services supplied), figures on production (volume of added value) are now also available. Furthermore, monthly figures are published for the sectors in addition to quarterly and annual figures. Finally, the base year has been changed from 2015 to 2021.

In the near future, a monthly news article will be published about the production of the service sector (including the accommodation and food services sector). The current quarterly reports on the turnover of a number of specific sectors, such as the accommodation and food services sector, business services and transport, will be continued.

Due to this change and the transition from quarterly to monthly figures, the period on which the seasonal correction model is based is too short to produce good-quality seasonally adjusted figures. These are expected to be added retroactively from 2021 in the spring of 2025.