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Pubs were among those hardest hit by the lockdown (Image: Terry Murden)

The UK hospitality sector lost more than half of its annual sales – a staggering £ 72 billion – last year amid renewed concerns about new lockdown measures.

Revenue fell 54% from £ 133.5 billion in 2019 to £ 61.7 billion in 2020 as pubs, hotels and restaurants closed.

The UKHospitality and CGA Quarterly Tracker follows the latest data showing that nearly 10,000 hospitality businesses have closed in the past year. This equates to a net loss of 6,000 when the openings are factored in.

Strict local and national trade and social restrictions caused a particularly damaging decline in trade in the final quarter of the year, the tracker shows.

Kate Nicholls: devastating numbers (Image: Terry Murden)

Revenue from October to December was just £ 14.3 billion – a decrease of £ 18.7 billion, or 57%, from the last quarter of 2019.

Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality CEO, said, “These numbers are just devastating. Hospitality was hit first, hit hardest, and continues to suffer from the pandemic restrictions in place.

“And behind this massive loss of revenue is the horrific, real impact on the lives and livelihoods of people in every part of the sector and the supply chain.

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“It is also another strong reminder of the importance of having an exit strategy from the current lockdown and ongoing support for companies in the sector.

“Hospitality can and will be restored and it is in the government’s interest to support a sector that, in normal times, brings billions of pounds in taxes to the Treasury and employs over three million people.”

Phil Tate, group chief executive of research consultancy CGA, said: “This is the clearest evidence yet of the harrowing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s hospitality industry.

“With every week of constraints, the sector is losing more than a billion pounds in sales, hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs.”