The accommodation and food services sector in Cyprus had the second biggest contribution to the economy as well as to employment in 2021, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU.

In 2021, the country where the accommodation and food service activities had the highest contribution to the value added of the business economy was Greece (6.5% of value added in the business economy), followed by Cyprus (6.0%) and Croatia (5.4%).

The lowest shares were registered in Slovakia (0.8%), Czechia (1%) and Poland and the Netherlands (both 1.2%).

In terms of employment, the sector's contribution to the business economy was higher. It ranged from 19.6% in Greece, 13.5% in Cyprus and 9.5% in Spain to 2.8% in Poland, 3.3% in Slovakia and 3.9% in Finland.

Overall in the EU in 2021 there were 1.9 million enterprises in the EU’s accommodation and food service sector, representing 6.1% of all enterprises active in the business economy.

The accommodation and food service sector includes enterprises falling under section I of the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE).

The EU’s accommodation and food service sector employed 9.9 million people, generated 203.6 billion euros in value added and accumulated a net turnover of 446.0 billion euros in 2021.

The sector thus contributed to 6.3% of the persons employed in the business economy in 2021 and accounted for 2.2% of its value added.