UK government announced several measures to revive hospitality industry
Travel Biz News –
London : The UK government has announced several measures to revive hospitality industry, which has been on the verge of collapse due to coronavirus outbreak.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, set out a ‘Plan for Jobs’ to continue the UK’s recovery from the Coronavirus outbreak in his summer economic statement on Wednesday (July 8). Tourism has been one of the worst affected sectors in recent months.
According to the Chancellor’s statement on tourism businesses, the rate of VAT applied on most tourism and hospitality-related activities will also be cut from 20 per cent to 5 per cent.
The Government has set up a new ‘Eat Out to Help Out ‘discount scheme to encourage people to safely return to eating out at restaurants. It will provide a 50 per cent reduction for sit-down meals in cafes, restaurants and pubs across the UK from Monday to Wednesday every week throughout August 2020, according to VisitBritain.org
A bonus scheme worth up to £9 billion for firms has been announced to re-employ furloughed workers. An employer who brings someone back off furlough, and keeps them in a job until January, will get a £1,000 bonus. To get the bonus, firms must pay at least £520 each month.
A new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme will also be launched to create fully subsidised jobs. Businesses will be given £2,000 for each new apprentice they hire under the age of 25. This is in addition to the existing £1,000 payment already provided for new 16-18-year-old apprentices and those aged under 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan.
The BTA (VisitBritain/Visit England) Chairman, Sir Patrick McLoughlin CH, welcoming the announcement said , “ Today’s statement follows an announcement earlier this week of a £1.57 billion support package for the arts, culture and heritage industries, through which organizations from a range of sectors including the performing arts and theatres, heritage sites, historic palaces, museums, galleries, live music and independent cinema will be able to access emergency grants and loans. “
Similarly, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has highly evaluated UK government budget statement.
“WTTC warmly welcomes this measure, which will save struggling companies millions of pounds and provide a much-needed boost to a sector which has been on the verge of collapse. This shows the commitment the UK government has to the industry and we hope to see these examples of continued support for travel and tourism around the world.”
“Thousands of tourism businesses large and small across the country will be breathing a collective sigh of relief now that the Chancellor has announced a VAT holiday of 15 % for the hospitality industry from next Wednesday, “said Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO.
“We have congratulated the UK Tourism Minister Nigel Huddleston for the move, which will go some way to restoring consumer confidence in a sector which last year generated nearly £200 billion GDP, or 9% to the UK economy, supporting four million jobs, “WTTC said.
July 9 , 2020 Image courtesy : BBC
