Alan Stutts on Hotel and Lodging Facts March 29, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Alan Stutts writes:
Hotels and other lodging accommodations serve fewer people each day: 60% of the nation’s 4.3 million quest rooms were slept in during 2002.(American Hotel and Lodging Association) Revenues and profits for lodging reached an history high in 2000, but the economic slowdown that followed, the outbreak of Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, the unsettled political climate after September 11, 2001, and war in Iraq in 2003 reduced national and international travel and fewer people needed a room for the night. “The lodging industry is still recovering following 10 years of record-breaking performance,” notes the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s 2003 Lodging Industry profile. (American Hotel and Lodging Association 2003)
Alan Stutts also explains that when the hospitality industry is combined with the travel and tourism industry, you have the country’s largest export industry and its third largest retail industry. (American Hotel and Lodging Association)
Who cooks all those meals and makes all those beds?
The National Restaurant Association pegs hospitality as the nation’s largest employer after the government, with over 870,000 food service establishments employing 1.2 million people in 2004. (National Restaurant Association 2004) “The restaurant industry remains the cornerstone of the nation’s economy, career-and-employment opportunities, and local communities,” says Stephen C. Anderson, President and Chief Executive Office of the National Restaurant Association.
According to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, sixteen percent of the U.S. workforce is employed in hospitality, doing everything from parking guest’s cars to sitting in the executive offices of large, international conglomerates. In 2003, one in four US adults reported to the National Restaurant Association that they had worked at a food service business at some time in their life.
Article Written by Alan Stutts