The chair of the Hotel Booking Agents Association (HBAA), Lex Butler (pictured), has urged the prime minister to provide urgent extended support for the events industry.
Speaking in response to prime minster Boris Johnson’s address to the UK, 10 May, Butler expressed concern that a number of businesses would not survive until the possible re-opening of the hospitality sector in July without extended measures of state aid.
Read more: Parts of hospitality industry could re-open in July, says prime minister
“The doors of the £70bn UK meetings and events industry are as tightly locked as they were before the prime minister’s announcement, and I fear that many businesses will not survive until the possible start of the reopening of the hospitality industry in July,” said Butler.
She went on to add that the quarantining of inbound travellers would only add further difficulty to the task at hand, saying: “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 the events industry urgently need much more support to survive and to get their 700,000 staff back to work and off furlough. As we at the HBAA have 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.
“Furthermore, commercial rent relief still has not been agreed; landlords could be evicting our members in a few weeks.”
Butler called for urgent clarity to prevent more businesses from collapse. “We need clarity now to prevent closures and large-scale loss of jobs,” she said. “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 then 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.”
