More support needed to avoid 'bloodbath of job losses' as scale of revenue hit revealed

The hospitality sector saw sales decline by 21.3% in the first quarter of 2020, as the coronavirus lockdown forced businesses to close.

The newly launched UKHospitality quarterly tracker demonstrated the cliff edge in revenue experienced by the industry after the introduction of the formal lockdown on 23 March, with a warning issued that more support will be needed to avoid a "bloodbath of job losses".

The impact of this, seen at the end of the period included in the statistics, had already put the sales 2.7% behind where they were in 2019, and UKHospitality has predicted it will be a "long time" before annual sales of £133.5b will be recorded by the industry again.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of the industry body, said: "At the end of December, the industry had seen year-on-year growth running at +3.9% - the turnaround has been dramatic and will only get worse in the coming quarter. A continuation of business support is the only way to avoid a bloodbath of job losses and company failures in the hospitality sector, one of the UK economy's jewels in the crown."

Data for the new UKHospitality quarterly tracker has been compiled by insight and data provider CGA.