The CEO of UKHospitality has made comment on the publication of the Federation of Small Businesses’ A Menu for Recovery report, which calls for a new strategy to help bolster the hospitality and tourism sectors.
Kate Nicholls (pictured) said, “Smaller and independent hospitality operators have suffered greatly during the pandemic and the four week extension of restrictions creates greater uncertainty about their future. These businesses provide valuable jobs across all regions of the UK and really are the lifeblood of the sector.
“This important report echoes many of our asks as to how the Government can best support small businesses to recover from the devastating effects of the crisis. We welcome the focus on encouraging more potential recruits to think of careers in these sectors and incentivising employers to deliver greater numbers of work placements.
'Extending the business rates holiday and VAT rate reduction into next year are two levers the Government can pull to enable the sector to power the economic recovery.'
Nicholls ended, “Critically, we must see a publicly-stated commitment that such support will be in place giving businesses much-needed reassurance after what will be 16 months of closure and significantly constrained trading. Otherwise the Government risks jeopardises the return on investment that hospitality will offer if given permission to trade freely.”
