CBS calculates: more new hospitality businesses during the coronavirus pandemic

The hospitality industry had a tough time in 2020, and it’s still a struggle. But guess what? Statistics Netherlands (CBS) calculated that the number of hospitality businesses grew last year. How is that possible?

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) deals in figures; it keeps an exact count of what is happening in the Netherlands. And if you look at its graphs, you wouldn’t think that 2020 was a coronavirus year. Because despite everything, more hospitality businesses were added than companies closed their doors. The figures: 4,740 restaurants, hotels and cafés closed, but 7,425 new hospitality businesses were added. CBS based this on data from the Chamber of Commerce.

Thinking about quitting

In 2020, 286 hospitality businesses went bankrupt, 32 more than in 2019. It is unclear why the other 4,454 hospitality entrepreneurs stopped. It could have been related to financial problems, but there may have been another reason. Or a combination of factors: entrepreneurs who were already thinking about quitting and saw their savings evaporate before their eyes during the coronavirus year. It’s understandable that they decided they’d had enough.

Churchill said it already

As Churchill already said: ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ Apparently, there are enough hospitality entrepreneurs who see opportunities in this market and are opening a new place right now. More businesses are opening than have closed. Strange? If you look at the figures for 2019, it’s not so surprising. That year, 7,950 new hospitality businesses started up; the year before, there were 6,070.

Dynamic

Apparently, huge numbers of cafés, restaurants and hotels are opened every year—and then closed again. The hospitality industry is a sector with ‘a lot of dynamism’, as CBS puts it. Quite a lot changes, and where your favorite restaurant is today, a sandwich shop could open tomorrow.

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Source: RTL