That has helped bar and restaurant businesses, but UK Hospitality’s chief executive Kate Nicholls told MPs it was vital that moratorium was extended to give a breathing space of “six to nine months”.
She said: “If we don’t get a resolution at a global level, if you rely on landlords and lessees to sort it out individually themselves, it would be a bloodbath come June when we have the next quarter rent that becomes due.
“If we don’t get that intervention on rent, if we are forced to remain closed until Christmas, then I think you could put a third of the sector at risk.”
UK Hospitality has also written to Michael Gove recommending a six-point plan to help businesses reopen following the crisis and save jobs and businesses.
It stresses the need for a phased approach to avoid a “yo-yo effect” of openings and closings which could see businesses fail and see up to a million jobs lost across the UK.
The organisation is also calling for the extension of the furlough scheme beyond the end of June for hospitality, legislative intervention on rent payments, improved access to capital and “a comprehensive fiscal package” to stimulate demand post-crisis.
Kate Nicholls said: “With social distancing measures still in place, reopening the hospitality sector without a plan would be catastrophic.
“An extended period of social distancing will mean that many hospitality businesses will not be able to operate fully, and many will not be able to open at all. Hospitality is a sector built around socialising, so there must be government support for businesses that continue to be hit by this crisis.”
the lockdown and businesses have been hit hard in every region.
“It is vital that, as the danger of Covid-19 passes, these businesses are able to hit the ground running and return to full strength as rapidly as possible. Ensuring these sectors get back on their feet quickly should be one of the government’s top priorities.”
Some government cash has been forthcoming specifically for tourism, but it is not a lot. A £1.3m scheme announced by the tourism minister Nigel Huddleston will provide financial support to Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) like Marketing Lancashire to help them during the crisis.
We have a very
strong and loyal domestic visitor
audience. People come back time and time again to this county
The minister said the government’s aim was to work with DMOs on recovery planning, “to ensure that tourism rebounds and once again becomes one of the most successful and vibrant sectors of the economy.”
Rachel McQueen says businesses in Lancashire are making plans for how they will rebuild, though the immediate focus, “has been on how we all collectively ride out the storm”.
Marketing Lancashire has been working to keep the county in people’s minds with online initiatives and Rachel says she has been impressed with the way hospitality businesses in the county have worked to keep their profiles high with initiatives such as home delivery.
She said: “It is great to see people being creative, giving people a reason to keep engaging. It is about trying to keep things positive.”
Rachel McQueen
Meanwhile, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism has launched an urgent inquiry to establish the best ways to support the recovery of businesses in that sector hit by coronavirus.
It will assess what is needed to get businesses in these sectors back on their feet at the right time for the country. And it aims to publish its findings in the middle of May.
Among the issues it will be looking at is the business support needed to help the sector transition to what will be ‘the new normal’.
Steve Double MP, who chairs the group, said: “Collectively, tourism and hospitality add around £80bn to the UK’s economy and in normal times employ 3.3m people.
“These sectors were two of the first to feel the impact of first social distancing and then
Rachel also believes Lancashire is well placed to be one of the first tourism areas in the country to mount a recovery, once the country moves out of lockdown.
She says: “We have a very strong and loyal domestic visitor audience. People come back time and time again to this county.
“We are very hopeful that this market will bounce back and do so more quickly than others, such as international visitors.
“Once we get out the other side there will be some pent-up energy and a need to get out and about and do things.
“World travel opportunities are likely to be affected in the medium term at least. Our task is to get that home audience to value and utilise our incredible visitor attractions.
“I really do think we should be well positioned to reach out as soon as people can get out and do things. We’re ready to work to drive that footfall back into the county.”
LANCASHIREBUSINESSVIEW.CO.UK
Steve Brennan Founder, Bespoke Digital
bespokedigital.agency
LESSONS FROM DESIGNING THE NEW NORMAL
I’m proud of our team who have just completed their first rebrand and website project done entirely in lockdown.
We knew we’d have to adapt the normal process and the learning has been fascinating.
One of our values is to share best-practice so here are the lessons we identified whilst delivering for this client:
• Design workshops. Should be adapted for Zoom rather than use the normal agenda. It worked to mix online and offline exercises to avoid screen fatigue and allow time for research and reflection.
• Project management . Is more important when working remotely. Milestones are best marked complete on a client Zoom call so everyone sees each phase close successfully.
• Weekly Zoom. A meeting at the same time every week maintains pace and allows queries and ideas to accumulate for decisions all in one go, reducing emails back and forth in the week.
• Faster delivery. Projects actually move faster than normal working. This rebrand and website build was completed inside six weeks which was a record for the Bespoke team for a project this size.
I noticed the project seemed to give everybody involved a real sense of purpose too, which was particularly important as we settled into working from our homes.
Since lockdown began we’ve made a point of listening and sharing as much as possible, including outside of our client-base.
We shared five key themes from over more than 100 conversations in a white paper called ‘Digital marketing through disruption’, which you can download for free at the link below.
Stay safe and stay positive. Get the white paper:
whitepaper.bespokedigital.agency
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TOURISM
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