German hospitality: decline in sales increasingly crisis in the summer of 2025!

German hospitality: decline in sales increasingly crisis in the summer of 2025!

The German hospitality industry continues in the crisis. In the first half of 2023, the industry recorded a significant decline in sales. According to Wirtschaft-TV sales decreased by price-adjusted 3.7 percent compared to the previous year. Also nominal was only 0.1 percent below the previous year, which only mitigates the tense situation to a limited extent.

Especially the gastronomy suffers from this development and fights with a real decline of 4.1 percent. The hotels and accommodation companies also have a noticeable decline in 2.6 percent that strengthens the concerns about the industry.

The reasons for the lull

An important reason for the tense situation could be the full VAT rate of 19 percent on food that has been in effect again since 2024. Here the industry hopes for political determination to reduce the tax rate to 7 percent in the coming year, as was the case during pandemic. The DEHOGA President Guido Zöllick has already felt signs of the burden in the industry and warns of the subdued prospects for the rest of the year, such as Tagesschau reported.

In addition to the tax burden, the innkeepers have to deal with an increasingly price -sensitive clientele. Many guests choose to eat less frequently, choose cheaper dishes or do without extras. This leads to a noticeable loss of customer and particularly affects small and medium -sized family businesses.

Development of sales

In June 2025, the catering trade recorded a real sales decline of 5.9 percent compared to the previous year. Including the price increases, sales were still 3.4 percent below the previous year's value. The banks and economic experts also fear negative development in the rest of the year, and warn that this situation is not a good omen for private consumption, such as ZDF Today .

The situation was somewhat more bearable at the beginning of the year due to a short sales high at Easter, but the situation has now deteriorated again. Especially in May 2023, a decline in sales of 2.2 percent was registered compared to the previous month, the largest decline since December 2021.

The challenges that the German hospitality faces are in front of them are diverse: rising costs for personnel through the minimum wage, price -sensitive customers and the pressure due to high value added tax rates. DEHOGA remains optimistic and relies on support measures by the new federal government, which in the coalition agreement provides for a permanent reduction in VAT for dishes from January 2026.

The struggle for customers and sales, however, remains hard and the question remains whether and how the industry can master this difficult phase. For many companies, the economic load limit could soon prove to be critical.