2023-08-11 11:19:55
After the low caused by the corona pandemic, the mood of crisis in the tourism industry has been overcome. Business is improving for the hotel and catering industry and companies are looking forward to the coming months with confidence, as industry representatives reported at a press conference on Friday. However, inflation poses challenges for them too. In addition to higher costs, customers’ reluctance to spend is making itself felt.
As a recent market survey of Austrian gastronomy and tourism companies shows, the hotel industry in particular is more satisfied with the course of the summer season than in the previous year. According to Johann Spreitzhofer, chairman of the hotel industry association in the Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ), this is particularly noticeable in the city hotel industry. In cities like Graz and Innsbruck, the number of overnight stays would already exceed the pre-Corona level. In general, the booking situation of the domestic companies with a view to autumn and winter is better than last.
Despite the positive mood, the industry representative advocates assessing the situation realistically. “Overnight stays and sales don’t go hand in hand,” says Spreitzhofer. Because the high inflation leaves economic traces, which manifest themselves primarily in the form of a reluctance to consume on the part of customers and, for example, reduce their willingness to give tips. “Visitors’ purses are much less loose than they were before the price surge.” In addition, there are the high energy and food prices, which companies can only partially pass on, emphasized Spreitzhofer.
A similar picture emerges in gastronomy. More than 70 percent of the companies there are now expressing optimism regarding their situation. Every fifth company and thus more than recently is even very positive, said the WKÖ gastro division chairman, Mario Pulker. At the same time, the reluctance to consume is having an even greater impact on the catering trade, especially since this is visited more often on a daily basis than the hotel industry. According to Pulker, 30 percent of the companies are currently reporting a decline in sales, noting that the majority “had to swallow the cost increases themselves”.
Pulker locates a “slight relaxation” in the area of the personnel situation. According to the survey, 27 percent of catering establishments are currently looking for employees; in 2022 it was still every third establishment. For him, however, this is no reason to relax, as the companies still need an average of two to three more workers. For this reason, he also sees no room for a legal reduction in working hours. Their implementation is unrealistic, the discussion regarding it “mistakes real life”.
In order for the industry to be able to overcome the hurdles described, further simplifications are necessary, say Spreitzhofer and Pulker unanimously. Among other things, they demand a reduction in non-wage labor costs, tax breaks for company transfers and the removal of bureaucratic hurdles for hiring staff. Pulker rejected the labeling of origin for food in gastronomy. “We have enough bureaucracy to shoulder.” The corona aid approved yesterday by the EU Commission, which must now be paid out quickly to the companies, is edifying.
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