Reported in the Citizen – Statistics will not make the tourism industry feel better, although they have already been living with the bad news for more than a year now.
According to Statistics SA, total income for the tourist accommodation industry decreased by 72.7% in February 2021 compared to February 2020, while income from accommodation decreased by 74.5% year-on-year due to a 60.6% decrease in the number of stay unit nights sold and a 35.2% decrease in the average income per stay unit night sold.
As in previous months, all accommodation types recorded large negative year-on-year growth in income from accommodation during February, with the largest year-on-year decreases in income from accommodation reported by hotels that decreased by 78.1% and contributed -53.7 percentage points and “other” accommodation that decreased by 68.8% and contributed -18.7 percentage points.
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Income from accommodation decreased by 65.3% in the three months up to the end of February, compared to the same three months in 2020. Hotel accommodation income decreased by 70.4% and contributed -46.2 percentage points and ‘other’ accommodation decreased by 57.2% and contributed -16.8 percentage points.
Compared to January, seasonally adjusted income from accommodation decreased by 6.9% month-on-month in February 2021 and decreased by 39.3% month-on-month in January 2021.
