AM 25 June – Hospitality reopening update
The PM’s announcement on the relaxation on restriction within the hospitality industry in England from 4 July and various announcement on differing changes within the other Home Nations, to different timetables, has prompted a plethora of amendments to existing guidance and/or the release of new guidance.
Rather than issuing updates on the updates about things you’re probably already aware of I have waited in the hope that all the piece of the jigsaw would quickly fall into place during the week. This is not yet the case, and while all the generic high-level material is now available, some of the more detailed, practical, free to access advice from individual trade bodies is due to be released imminently or in some instances remains available but to “members only”.
What has prompted this note is this morning’s release in England of the detail of the ‘We’re Good To Go’ the UK wide industry standard mark, the detail of which will be a great interest to many individual hospitality businesses. Many of those businesses will be keen to understand precisely what is expected of them, before they apply. To my mind a proper understanding of that, in many cases, will be largely informed by a combination of the higher-level government advice and the sector specific advice available from trade bodies and accreditation schemes, like those of Quality in Tourism and the AA. Other larger businesses will be following their own corporate guidance.
The welcome good news and the increased certainty about some aspects of the opening up of the hospitality industry, could, in the short term, prompt rather more B2B questions in some quarters than it initially answers. Doubtless more consumer questions are likely to follow thereafter.
Ongoing support, particularly, around sign posting of the most appropriate sources of detailed business advice is going to be more important, rather than less, now that we have to start delivering a hopefully seamless and demonstrably safe reopening of both destinations and the businesses that, jointly and separately, form them.
Some of the more useful links on changes in England from 4 July include:
New guidance for reopening the visitor economy to take effect in England on 4 July.
Specific advice on safety in the workplace has been published for:
New guidance has also been released on:
- Social distancing, including maintaining 1m of social distance when 2m is not possible.
- Meeting with people outside of your household after 4 July.
- Coronavirus outbreak FAQs on what you can and can’t do after 4 July.
British Destinations 