According to Eurostat data, the contribution of the accommodation and catering sector to the Cypriot economy and employment is the second-largest compared to other European Union countries.
In 2021, a year still affected by the coronavirus pandemic, almost one in five workers in Greece (19.6%) was employed in accommodation and catering, compared to 6.3% across the EU.
The difference between Greece and Cyprus was significant, with employment in this specific sector accounting for 13.5% in Cyprus.
In 2021, there were 1.9 million businesses in the EU’s accommodation and catering sector, representing 6.1% of total businesses.
In Cyprus, this number was 6,174 businesses in 2021 and 6,320 in 2022.
In other countries, the number of businesses in the accommodation and catering sector was as follows: Belgium 52,461, Czech Republic 59,376, Denmark 14,510, Germany 231,068, Estonia 4,265, Ireland 21,591, Greece 110,081, Spain 291,176, France 284,857, Malta 3,742, Lithuania 9,189, Portugal 118,626, Slovenia 14,371, Slovakia 10,112, Austria 47,793, Finland 16,062.
The EU’s accommodation and catering sector employed 9.9 million people, generated €203.6 billion in gross value added, and accumulated a net turnover of €446 billion in 2021.
Thus, the sector contributed to 6.3% of employment in the entrepreneurial economy in 2021 and represented 2.2% of its gross value added.
Accommodation and catering services made various contributions to the gross value added of the entrepreneurial economy in EU countries in 2021.
The highest contribution was recorded in Greece (6.5% of gross value added in the entrepreneurial economy), followed by Cyprus (6.0%) and Croatia (5.4%).
In Greece and Cyprus, the percentages are almost triple the EU average of 2.2%. The lowest shares were recorded in Slovakia (0.8%), Czech Republic (1%), and Poland and the Netherlands (both 1.2%).
Regarding employment, the sector’s contribution to the entrepreneurial economy was more significant, ranging from 19.6% in Greece, 13.5% in Cyprus, and 9.5% in Spain, to 2.8% in Poland, 3.3% in Slovakia, and 3.9% in Finland.
In absolute terms, the gross value added amounted to approximately €4.85 billion in 2021, with wages and salaries constituting about half of this amount (€2.48 billion).
