The hospitality in Wales is calling on the Welsh Government to bring forward the reopening of its businesses.
The Welsh Government have announced that certain restrictions are being lifted early, such as gyms opening a week earlier than planned, but the hospitality industry is calling on the Government to allow its businesses to open ahead of schedule.
“The drop in cases of nearly 50% in a week to a low of 21 per 100,000 - the lowest number and comparable with when we were open for business in September - shows the huge success of the vaccination programme. This should allow the opening of the doors to our beleaguered businesses,” said David Chapman, executive director of UKHospitality Cymru (UKHC).
“We are opening outdoors on April 26, two weeks after England, yet have been closed longer. The indoor opening ‘soft target’ is still a very long way off, some time before the end of May. There are simply no reasons now why we couldn’t be fully open before England or at the very latest alongside England on May 17.
“We are still waiting to see what grant support we have from 1 April and extended closure is unnecessarily threatening jobs in communities that rely on our businesses.”
Simon Wright, of Wright’s Food Emporium in Carmarthen and founding member of theWelsh Independent Restaurant Collective (WIRC), said that the arguments for bringing forward the reopening of hospitality were strong.
"We know that transmission of the virus is very much lower outside and the restrictions that will be attached to that - seated only, masks when away from the table etc mean that restaurants, pubs and cafes are a much safer environment than uncontrolled gatherings and we need to bear in mind that from Monday people will be travelling to stay in Wales from places where outdoor hospitality is open," he said.
"Although less than half of eating and drinking places are able to benefit from outside only opening, any extra days with income coming in are crucial given the cash flow crisis so many independent Welsh businesses face."
