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 €1400 per EU inhabitant. A more complete overview of household final consumption expenditure, broken down by consumption purpose, is available in this interactive infographics.

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

In the EU in 2017, 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”.

The source dataset can be found here.

Share of expenditure on restaurant and hotels increased mainly in Malta

Between 2007 and 2017, the share of "restaurants and hotels" in total household expenditure grew in most Member States. In particular, the highest increase over this 10-year time 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.

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