Hospitality in the News - 25 July 2019

Your latest instalment of articles and opinions from across the Hospitality sector.

TW: thinkingdifferently

A couple of news items this week, one on pub closures in the UK slowing (but the trend is still downwards) and the other on non-alcohol/low-alcohol global sales exploding, highlight the continuing trend of Gen Z and Millennials to drink a lot less than their parents.

Various reasons have been put forward for this shift including a greater focus on health and well-being, to all-pervasive social-media (and a concern a regrettable drunken episode is on-line forever…) and drinks' companies aggressive promotion of non-alcoholic alternatives in regions of the world where alcohol is generally not consumed for cultural reasons. Whatever the reason, the move towards low/non-alcohol is real, and forward-looking hospitality businesses will need to respond to this.

It's now time for Hospitality in the News's well-deserved summer break. We are back in September.