Hospitality businesses optimistic about the economy despite cashflow impact - Sensis
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Hospitality businesses optimistic about the economy despite cashflow impact - Sensis
Hospitality businesses around Australia are among the most optimistic of any sector when it comes to the country's economic recovery, according to a new Sensis survey.
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DepositphotosA new Sensis survey has shown more than 90 per cent of hospitality businesses have had their cashflow impacted by COVID-19.
Nearly a third of hospitality businesses believe the national economy will be stronger in 12 months time, with a new survey indicating the sector has the most faith of any industry in the country's financial recovery.
According to the September Sensis Business Index, 30 per cent of hospitality businesses surveyed said they expected the economy to bounce back by the same time next year – the highest of any sector.
The industry was also revealed to have benefitted the most from the Jobkeeper scheme, with 65 per cent of operators saying they would not have survived without the subsidy.
The research, undertaken by data insights platform Glow of 500 businesses nationwide also showed:
- 62 per cent of Melbourne businesses would not have survived.
- 56 per cent of Canberra businesses would not have survived.
- 54 per cent of construction businesses would not have survived.
Sensis CEO John Allan said the research showed each state was affected differently and it also depended on what sector a business was in.
“Overall it was 44 per cent, but when looking at it from a state perspective it was way more important in Melbourne at 62 per cent compared to Hobart for example which was nearly half of that at 33 per cent,” he said.
“When you look at it from an industry perspective Hospitality was at 65 per cent, Retail at 42 per cent, but only 30 per cent in Construction.
“A lot of industry experts were saying that perhaps JobKeeper should have been tiered.
"As you can see some sectors are less affected and a business down 30 per cent is probably going to survive but a business like those in the travel sector who are down 100 per cent probably won’t and the closures show that.”
Sensis CEO John Allan. Source: Sensis
Finance
Unsurprisingly, 92 per cent of hospitality businesses said cashflow had been worse under Covid, with 31 per cent saying they had been unable to make bill payments on time.
Getting finance approved in the past month has been a massive issue in Melbourne with the survey reporting that 36 per cent of Melbourne businesses had been turned down.
It was not much better in Adelaide with 33 per cent turned down while in Sydney, it was just 17 per cent.
Mr Allan said it also appeared to be taking longer to get finance approved.
In Canberra, 40 per cent of businesses were still waiting on approval compared to the national average of 13 per cent,” he said.
“The survey also showed that 30 per cent of businesses said they would access their savings if they needed money over the next three months, with 18 per cent using a credit card, 12 per cent an overdraft, and 27 per cent a bank loan.”
Confidence levels over the next six months
The survey shows hospitality businesses across Australia are under no illusions about their immediate future, with 39 per cent saying they were Fairly Worried (against the national average of 20 per cent) about the next six months, while 14 per cent were Extremely Worried (against a 10 per cent national average).
However, while just over 6 per cent of businesses nationally said they expected to close their doors, Hospitality was still resilient at 2.8 per cent.
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