PROVIDENCE – The COVID-19 pandemic impacted Rhode Island’s hospitality and tourism industry to the tune of $2.2 billion in 2020, marking a 30% decline year over year, according to a new report from Salve Regina University and the Rhode Island Hospitality Association.
The study was completed by Salve Regina students enrolled in business professor Samuel Sacco’s Introduction to Econometrics class, and examined the pandemic’s indirect and direct monetary impact across the hospitality and tourism industries, including impacts in the food and beverage, events and meetings, lodging, and tourism and attraction sectors.
The report found that the lodging, meeting and events, and tourism attraction sectors experienced decreases ranging between 40% and 60%, while the food services sector experienced a decline between 5% and 25%.
Of the total $2.2 billion pandemic impact on the sectors in the report, $1.5 billion was attributed to the loss of direct spending, while $534.1 million was indirect spending and $190.1 million was calculated as lost induced spending from the sector.
Statewide, the meeting and events sector was impacted by a loss of $865.5 million year over year in 2020 due to the pandemic, the report said, while the food services sector saw a decrease of $565.8 million. The tourism and attractions sector experienced a $448.4 million loss year over year and the lodging sector saw a $345.7 million decline in that time.
The report found that proportionately, the food services sector saw a smaller decline than other sectors, which it said was potentially attributable to the inclusion of prepared meals from grocery stores and curbside restaurant takeout in calculations, which partially offset a decline in lost in-person dining revenue.
The study used 2019 economic figures for a baseline of comparison.
“Rhode Island’s hospitality industry was one of the hardest-hit industries in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dale J. Venturini, CEO and president of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association in a statement. “Our membership of hoteliers, restaurants and attractions were extremely transparent on overall loss of business, but this study further illustrates the magnitude of the financial impact to the third-largest industry in Rhode Island.”
The report also found that overall, the statewide job loss in all four sectors for the year was 22,684 in 2020, with a majority of jobs lost occurring in Providence County. However, the report noted that, “Proportional adjustments to our model eliminating the impacts of prepared foods and curbside dining show estimated job loss numbers in excess of 30,000 [across the four sectors], a range more consistent with published Bureau of Labor Statistics data.”
Also of note, the report said that in terms of economic impact, Providence County’s hospitality and tourism sectors were hardest-hit of all counties, both nominally and proportionally, accounting for a decline of $930.4 million in spending for the year, or a decline of 36% from 2019 figures. Newport County was the second-hardest-hit nominally and proportionally, with a decline of $664.1 million in spending, or a 35% decline year over year.
