South Africa’s HoReCa sector was the lone star in an otherwise bleak first quarter (Q1) for the year, the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) has reported.
According to the Bureau this has been a trend for the sector “since it reached a nadir during the level 5 lockdown in Q2 of 2020”.
However, whereas the hospitality industry can toast itself for rebounding quarter-on-quarter, Q1 remains a muted affair all-round for other sectors of the economy.
“The 23-point drop from 68 to 45 is the largest ever recorded in the survey’s 18-year existence,” the BER has said.
To make matters worse, from a freight perspective, the Bureau said “the fall in the overall index stemmed from the transport and business services sub-sectors”.
“Confidence in the transport sub-sector collapsed to 14 and in the crucial three business service sub-sectors, fell from 64 to 47.
“In contrast, confidence in the hospitality sub-sector increased from 73 to 75, a far cry from zero at the time of the hard lockdown in 2020.
“In the case of the last remaining sub-sector, real estate, confidence declined from 47 to 43.”
