Beyond the Plate: A Comparative Financial Ratio Analysis of Restaurants in Tourism Destinations and Regular Industry Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Hotel Management, Faculty of Tourism and hotel management, Pharos University, Alexandria, Egypt

2 Business and Management Dpt., University of Malaga (Spain)

Abstract

This paper examines the financial ratios disparities between restaurants operating in tourist destinations and those in regular locations during times of crisis in Spain. The study compared seven different financial ratios. Those belonged to 13.518 Spanish restaurants working in tourism destinations and 12.634 more operating in regular Spanish locations. The study employed ANOVA analysis to test the hypotheses on each ratio, enabling us to compare the financial restaurants' characteristics in both tourist destinations and regular locations. The results of our analysis indicate significant variances in the financial performance of restaurant businesses in tourist destinations compared to those in regular locations during crisis times. Specifically, that restaurant in tourist destinations is at a significant disadvantage in terms of working capital per employee and income per employee. Moreover, the profit per employee was significantly reduced between restaurants in tourist destinations or regular locations when a major crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, affected the restaurants industry. This study shed new insights to the existing financial literature by highlighting the distinct financial constraints faced by the restaurant industry. The current study presents a comprehensive analysis of the financial variances between these businesses and those operating in tourism destinations and in regular locations. The study analyzed the data collected from the Spanish restaurants, resulting in limited generalizability of the findings. To boost the comparability of future research, it should include restaurants dataset from other countries.

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Pharos International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality
Volume 4, Issue 2
September 2025
Pages 19-36

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