Blogs
The latest Barclaycard report has revealed a growth in consumer spend on eating out in restaurants, pubs and hotels during Q2 2015.
In particular, restaurants witnessed a notable 14.8% rise in consumer spend, while in pubs sales grew by 12.1% compared with the previous year.
Influenced by continuing economic uncertainty in Europe and concerns over the safety of overseas travel, 26% of Brits have decided to have a UK staycation this year, and this is expected to further boost the profits of hospitality businesses throughout this summer.
The growing popularity of the staycation has resulted in hotels seeing a 6.9% growth during Q2, while spend on travel recorded its highest level since Q2 2013, up 8.4%.
Every region within the UK witnessed an increase in overall consumer spend, Big Hospitality reports. The greatest rises were recorded in London, the North West and Scotland, increasing by 5.4%, 4.9% and 4.7%, respectively. Regions with the lowest increases included the North East (3.9%), East of England (3.8%) and South West (3.7%).
The increase in overall spend in all regions is largely attributed to the fact that consumers are taking advantage of rising wages and decreasing inflation rates. The report also states that consumer confidence was notably high after May's General Election.
Chief operating officer at Barclaycard, Chris Wood, commented: "Rather than a fleeting trend, consumer spending has been growing steadily since last summer as more and more people started to believe the improvements in the macro environment were here to stay. With the UK's economic recovery appearing to be firmly established, households are likely increasingly to spend more on themselves and their families."
