For restaurants that rely on tourism for their business, the pandemic has had a more negative impact, says the National Restaurant Association.
In a typical year before COVID-19, an average of 41 percent of sales in the fine-dining segment came from travelers and visitors to an area, according to Association research. For some fine-dining restaurants, it is a much larger proportion: 1 in 4 fine-dining operators say travelers and visitors accounted for at least 60 percent of their sales pre-COVID.
In the family dining, casual dining and coffee-and-snack segments, approximately one-third of sales came from travelers and visitors in a typical year before COVID-19. Travelers and visitors accounted for roughly 1 in 4 dollars spent in the quick-service and fast-casual segments pre-COVID.
With both personal and business travel significantly curtailed, tourism-related spending in restaurants fell sharply in recent months. In the fine-dining segment, travelers and visito
