According to a recent report, Montreal’s restaurant and hotel sectors were able to recover from the pandemic and health restrictions by registering an increase in consumer spending in the winter of 2023.
The period between February 2022 and 2023 saw a 38% increase in F&B spending, while hotels grew by 87%, Moneris found in a study released on Monday.
This period coincides with the end of IgloFest and the start of Montreal in Lights, festivals that will mark their first major return individually since the health crisis.
“The COVID-19 restrictions were also maintained until mid-March 2022, which boosted growth in early 2023,” the report said.
If tourism performed well in the metropolis in the winter of 2023, the same was not true for retail trade, which faced “one of the biggest declines”.
Thus, clothing purchases (-20%), supermarkets (-30%) and second-hand stores (-29%) all decreased between May 2022 and 2023.
In contrast, low-cost stores registered a growth of 24% during the same period.
“Retail spending rebounded 4% in August, which may be a sign of optimism as the holidays approach,” Moneris noted.
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