Food and drink was the largest contributor to growth in consumer-facing services in December 2024 for the second month in a row, according the the latest ONS figures.
While consumer-facing services output increased by 0.4% in the month, up from 0.1% in November, food and beverage service activities saw growth of 2.0%, contributing to most to this increase. In November, output also rose by 2.0% , following a fall of 1.2% in October 2024, with both food and beverage service activities, and accommodation growing in growing by 1.6% and 3.0% respectively, making it the largest positive contribution in the services sector in that month too.
However, UKHospitality is warning that the consistent growth being delivered by the sector will be curbed when £3.4 billion of costs hit the sector in April.
Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said, “We’ve seen over the past few months that hospitality is delivering reliable economic growth, despite the challenging economic circumstances the sector continues to face.
“Hospitality’s resilient growth is something the Government should be backing, but instead it is stunting the sector’s potential by inflicting such damaging costs on businesses.
“Driving growth is rightly the national priority and hospitality can be the vehicle, if the Government rethinks its regressive changes to employer NICs.”