The turnover of almost all sectors monitored in this statistic increased in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year. Most companies were fully active in the fourth quarter of 2021, while in some sectors companies were still (partially) closed or just starting up again in the fourth quarter of 2020 (e.g. air transport, travel and reservation services and the ‘horeca’ sector).
However, the Covid-19 crisis still had an impact on turnover in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2019 due to the containment measures that were still in place in a limited number of sectors, such as the discouragement of non-essential travel and restrictions on the organisation of events (through the use of the Covid Safe Ticket and limitation of the number of spectators), as a result of which e.g. the activities of travel agencies, tour operators and reservation services have not yet recovered to pre-crisis levels.
In more than two-thirds (70%) of the sectors monitored in this statistic, turnover increased in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. The largest increases in turnover are recorded in the wholesale trade (G46) and in the sectors “M74 Other professional, scientific and technical activities” and “J62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities”. The most significant turnover decreases were registered in the sectors "H50 Water transport" and "N79 Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities".
This statistic gives the turnover indices for a number of sectors specified by Eurostat: the wholesale trade and a number of services such as transport, accommodation and food service activities, ICT, advertising and market research. The sectors are divided according to the 2008 NACE classification and Eurostat's specifications. Consequently, indices are also available for some subsectors on a more detailed level (e.g. G46) and other subsectors are brought together (e.g. M69 and M702). The indices per year give an overview of the evolution of the turnover for a particular sector during the last few years. The reference year is 2015. The quarterly indices reflect the evolution during a given year and can also be used to make year-on-year comparisons of a particular quarter. This way, they make it possible to detect cyclical changes. These indices are gross indices, but the user can create himself a table also showing the seasonally-adjusted indices and the trend. The figures of the last 2 years should always be considered as provisional and can still be revised due to late and/or different VAT returns.