“The doors of the £70bn UK meetings and events industry are as tightly locked as they were before the Prime Minister’s announcement tonight and I fear that many businesses will not survive until the possible start of the reopening of the hospitality industry in July.
“Actually, the introduction of quarantine for travellers will only make it more difficult to #getbritainmeeting face to face and will extend the use of hybrid and virtual event formats.
“The businesses in this industry urgently need much more support to survive and to get their 700,000 staff back to work and off furlough. As HBAA has been demanding for several weeks, we immediately need to know that the furlough scheme will be extended beyond the end of June and on what terms. And commercial rent relief still has not been agreed - landlords could be evicting our members in a few weeks.
We need clarity now to prevent closures and large scale loss of jobs. We also need clarity and clear definition on whether the Government’s statement that the “hospitality industry could start to reopen in July” includes meetings and events and what criteria it must meet.
”We welcome the recognition of the impact of the lockdown on mental wellbeing but we need so much more to get people in the events, hospitality and travel industry back to work safely and confidently.”
#HBAAfuturefit