Over 11 lac new jobs created in hotels, restaurants in 11 years

Dhaka : Some 11.68 lacs jobs have been created in hotels and restaurants across the country over the past 11 years, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

The number of people in the service sector was 9.04 lac in 2010 which jumped to 20.70 lac in 2021, according to the latest sectoral survey report released recently.

The previous edition of the survey was carried out in 2010. Earlier, the BBS conducted the survey in 2003 and 1993 to provide a comprehensive understanding of the sector.
The latest survey said the number of hotels and restaurants surged to 4,36,274 in 2021 from 2,75,324 in 2010. The annual value-addition of the sector also increased by 223 per cent to BDT 38,703 crore.
However, the contribution of the service sector to GDP reduced to 1.10 per cent from 1.50 per cent over the period.

The survey was conducted on 6,734 hotels and restaurants in the country on the basis of random selection in March and April of last year. It used data from the 2013 Economic Census and the 2019 Business Directory.

"The survey was intended to find out how many hotels and restaurants has increased in the country over the period and how much value from this sector has been added to the GDP," Akhter Hossain, BBS regional director for Mymensingh who served as the focal point of the survey, as per reports. 

The hotel and restaurant sector generated BDT 35,159 crore in revenue in FY2010 and had a net value addition of BDT 23,173 crores -  about 34 per cent of the revenue.

The net value addition, however, dropped 1.2 percentage points to 32.80 per cent last year, which means the operating costs rose.
According to the latest survey, staffers working in the sector are now getting an average salary of BDT 1,51,710 per annum, up by 284 per cent from BDT 39,560.
Earlier, the sector used to spend 10.17 per cent of the total revenue on wages, which is now 26.64 per cent.

The value addition in the hotel and restaurant sector rose to BDT 87,926.8 crore, the provisional report of the survey revealed last June claimed. However, in the final report, this figure has come down to BDT 38,703 crore - a 56 per cent fall.

Furthermore, the final report showed 10 per cent fewer jobs in the sector than the preliminary findings.