The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism is today launching ‘Pathways to Recovery,’ our urgent inquiry into the measures that businesses in these two vital sectors of the UK’s economy will need in order to successfully reopen, recover and thrive in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis.
The key focus of this inquiry will be assessing what is needed to get businesses in these sectors back on their feet at the appropriate time, providing forward-looking recommendations to guide Government and businesses as they move to thinking about recovery. The consultation questions will look broadly at what support measures businesses would like to see from Government, while also looking at the internal and operational challenges that businesses face when looking to reopen.
There will be four key themes:
• Government support
• Achieving business compliance
• Supply chain re-activation
• Stimulating demand for the sector
The need for this inquiry is immediate and as such, by design, the time for gathering evidence will be short. The aim is to publish the findings and report in full by the middle of May, however, we may push forward the publication date in order to feed our findings into Government while important discussions on recovery are being held.
If you wish to respond to ‘Pathways to Recovery’ please answer the relevant consultation questions below and send your submissions in to Richard Clifford at rclifford@ukhospitality.org.uk with a copy to ourselves eirlys.jones@nwt.co.uk.
The deadline for submissions will be May 1st at 5:00pm.
Consultation Questions
- What further, or continued, financial measures do you envisage your business needing from Government in the recovery period when restrictions begin to be lifted? If relevant, please refer to both national and devolved Governments.
- What impact would a staggered reopening have on your businesses? (For example, if businesses are permitted to reopen but with existing social distancing measures retained; hotels open with no bar or restaurant area; or a cap being introduced on venue numbers)
- What specific operational difficulties do you anticipate when looking to reopen your business and will you need Government assistance and guidance ahead of this?
- How long will it take for businesses to change or reactivate their supply chains and what difficulties may be present in doing this?
- What, if any, more guidance do you feel that you need on cleaning and hygiene measures ahead of reopening?
- What fiscal measures should be taken to boost business in the hospitality and tourism sectors in the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 restrictions being lifted?
- What steps should the Government take to boost UK inbound tourism when social distancing measures are lifted?
- Are there any other key areas of support that your feel either sector, or your individual business, require outside the scope of the above questions? If so, please outline in under 500 words.
