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Hospitality sector calls for investment to get through coronavirus crisis
Around 120 leaders from hotels and other parts of the UK hospitality sector have written to the Prime Minister to request more support and investment to help the industry get through the Covid-19 crisis.
The letter calls on the Government to act decisively for a sector that was one of the first to be hit by the crisis, was hit harder than other sectors and is likely to be hit longer than other sectors.
According to UKHospitality, sales across the sector are expected to be 56% lower than last year, reducing revenues by a staggering £73.4bn, and half of businesses do not expect to reach breakeven until the end of next year.
The letter asks for a targeted Hospitality, Leisure and Retail Property Bounceback Grant, the extension of the deferral of tax and business rates, a temporary reduction in VAT to 5% for hospitality services, plus job protection initiatives including extending full furlough until the end of October.
UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said: "Our sector has been a high-profile casualty of this crisis and businesses are only now just beginning to reopen.
"For those businesses that have survived, the hard work begins now. We cannot assume that we are now in the clear just because our doors are open again. Many businesses have taken huge hits and hundreds of thousands of jobs are still in the balance.
"If we want to make a real success of this reopening, keep businesses alive and jobs secure, then the Government needs to provide support. Support from the Government has been extremely helpful in keeping venues afloat and it has saved jobs.
"There is no possibility of stopping now, though. Anything less than a full show of support from the Government risks undoing much of the good work that has already been done and will cause lasting damage to employment and the UK economy.
"We urge the Government to act decisively and positively to give hospitality the best possible chance of not only surviving the crisis but thriving in the aftermath."
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Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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