Virtue Group has released the quarterly results of the Texas Hotel, Bar, and Restaurant Report…
Virtue Group has released the quarterly results of the Texas Hotel, Bar, and Restaurant Report (collectively known as the Texas Hospitality Indicator) for the third quarter of 2004.
The quarterly report monitors three key performance indicators for the hospitality industry in the state of Texas: Sales for hotels and lodges, food and beverages sales estimates for full service restaurants, and alcoholic beverage sales of full service bars and restaurants.
Hotels
Hotel sales in the state of Texas grew by 1.101 percent over last year with 1.2 billion dollars in the second quarter. (2004 q3: $1,211 mil. 2003 q3: $1,197 mil.)
During the quarter 240 new hotel properties have opened in the state. Last year?s third quarter saw 256 hotels open their doors.
Full-Service Food and Beverage Sales
Full-Service restaurants consist of restaurants that serve food, beer, wine, and hard liquor.
Full-Service food and beverage sales estimates totaled 1.036 billion dollars for the second quarter, a 2.85% growth over the same quarter last year which had 1.001 billion dollars in sales.
Full-Service Alcoholic Beverage Sales
Virtue monitors the mixed-beverage sales in the State of Texas which includes the sale of all alcoholic beverages in bars, restaurants, and clubs that serve liquor.
Alcohol sales this quarter were 739 million dollars, a growth of 3.81% over the same quarter last year which had sales of 711 million dollars.
During the quarter there were 361 new establishments that sold alcoholic beverage whereas in the same quarter last year, there were 495 new establishments.
Texas Hospitality Indicator
The THI, the aggregate sum of the three factors above, rose 2.38% over last year?s second quarter, an increase of 71 million dollars to 2.99 billion dollars.
Summary
In all segments of the hospitality indicator fewer businesses opened their doors this quarter than the same quarter last year. This development will most likely reflect slow growth in the long term market.
Holding their title as fastest growing hospitality segment from the second quarter of 2004, the alcoholic beverage market continues to grow the fastest while full-service restaurants are slightly behind.
Despite modest growth, the hotel industry did not reach the growth predicted by other hotel industry experts as forecasted prior to the summer. Although the specific causes of the poor growth have not been examined, we believe that gas prices might have contributed more negatively than attributed for in forecast models. With almost no tropical storms or hurricanes reaching the Texas coast, a fair-weathered summer, and a nationwide economic recovery, higher growth over last year was expected.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
