LEISURE: Cyprus households spend more than other EU states on hotel stays

Cyprus is second only to Malta in the EU when it comes to total household expenditure on restaurants and hotels.

But Cyprus comes top when spending only on hotel and other accommodation services with 8.8% of total household expenditure.

In 2017, households in the European Union (EU) spent 8.8% of their total consumption expenditure on "restaurants and hotels". This represents a total expenditure of almost €740 bn, equivalent to 4.8% of EU GDP or €1,400 per EU inhabitant.

Malta, Cyprus and Spain spend the highest share of household expenditure on restaurants and hotels, Romania, Poland and Lithuania spend the least.

The share of household expenditure devoted to “restaurants and hotels” was largest in Malta (20.2%), Cyprus (17.5%) and Spain (16.8%) ahead of Greece (15.4%) and Ireland (14.8%).

At the opposite end of the scale, Romania (3.1%), Poland (3.6%) and Lithuania (3.7%) spent the lowest share of their household expenditure on “restaurants and hotels”.

It is 8^th for spending on restaurants and cafes (8.7%) and in the bottom three for housing costs (15.4%) such as rent, bills and repairs.

Between 2007 and 2017, the share of "restaurants and hotels" in total household expenditure grew in most Member States.

The highest increase over this 10-year period was recorded in Malta (from 15.5% of total household expenditure in 2007 to 20.2% in 2017, or a rise of 4.7 percentage points – pp) ahead of Hungary (+2.8 pp) and Cyprus (+2.7 pp).

In contrast, the share of "restaurants and hotels" in total household expenditure dropped between 2007 and 2017 in Romania (from 5.0% in 2007 to 3.1% in 2017, or a decrease of 1.9 pp), followed by Slovakia (-0.6 pp) and Finland (-0.1 pp), while it remained stable in Spain.