Why six weeks? It’s a question many in the UK hospitality industry have been asking themselves since the government announced its plans to gradually unwind the country’s coronavirus restrictions.
On 12 April — provisionally at least — non-essential retail will be allowed to open up, as will hospitality venues that can serve people outside, should they want to.
In England hotels, alongside pubs and restaurants, won’t be able to open indoors until 17 May at the earliest. This is also the point at which international travel could effectively restart, although given the rising rate of infections in much of Europe, this is now looking much more unlikely.
All legal limits on mixing won’t actually be removed until June 21.
This staggered unlocking of an industry that has been battered over the past 12 months has frustrated a lot of people with many wondering why it was not in line with the likes of clothes shops and hairdressers.
Sacha Lord, the Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, has pushed the government on behalf of the hospitality industry over a number of issues during the pandemic and is leading the charge over this unfair treatment.
“Non-essential retail is opening on the 12 April, that is fantastic but why wait another five weeks til the 17 May. We don’t believe there is any scientific evidence whatsoever for that, if there is, show us,” he said in an interview with Sky News last week.
Lord’s point has been backed up by a parliamentary committee, which criticised the government’s approach and its lack of transparency on the data it relied on to make its decision.
“The hospitality and entertainment sectors have not seen sufficient data to underpin decisions relating to their industry. The evidence the Committee received was inconclusive over whether restrictions on hospitality and entertainment sectors were sensible and indeed it is not the purpose of this report to come to a judgement on that,” the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said in a recent report.
So far it looks like the government isn’t willing to budge on the timings, leaving the hospitality industry frustrated at its unwillingness to interact.
“While any restrictions remain in place, our pubs and restaurants can only break even and the viability of thousands remains at risk – we lost over 12,000 in the last year alone,” UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said.
It’s small consolation to many bar and restaurants that they can open for outside dining on next month but for the hotel industry it is even worse with many expected to stay shut until the May date.
“Allowances for outdoor hospitality will enable pubs and restaurants with outdoor spaces to open partially, whilst providing very little benefit to wider hospitality settings including hotels. The UK Hotels industry contributes billions of pounds to the UK economy and the Government has demonstrated it is possible to have safe hotels, both for key worker and quarantine accommodation,” Lionel Benjamin, Co-founder of AGO Hotels, said.
“The delayed opening of safe hotels is frustrating and unwarranted, especially as hotel groups across the country have invested heavily to create Covid-secure environments including hospital-grade deep cleaning and closing communal areas.”
Insight: The government will likely point to assistance in other areas such as loans and the furlough scheme but these are a long way from replacing, actually being allowed to run a business, which is the only real request hotels and other hospitality businesses have. Of course, after the year, no one wants to rush into things, all that those in the hotel industry are asking for is a level playing field or at the very least some degree of evidence to show why they are being penalised.