Commenting after the discussion, Belfast Chamber Chief Executive Simon Hamilton said, “We are pleased to have had this opportunity to talk at length with the Shadow Chancellor about the many serious issues that are affecting our city and wider region’s hospitality sector. In Belfast alone, we have seen the sector grow massively in recent years with a 15% increase in hotel room nights to 1.24 million annually, 146 cruise ships docking in our harbour and our city being named by Lonely Planet as a must visit destination. The coronavirus pandemic has devastated a vibrant and fast developing sector with many hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses closed for months on end due to lockdown restrictions.
Thankfully, the easing of restrictions have helped many businesses to slowly but surely get back on their feet but we know that tough times are ahead. Our message to the Shadow Chancellor was a simple and straightforward one. Belfast Chamber, along with our colleagues at Tourism NI, Visit Belfast, Retail NI and those working in the industry, emphasised the need for ongoing sector specific support for hospitality. In particular, we stressed the need for an extension of the furlough scheme for the sector and financial assistance for businesses who are not permitted to open. We also emphasised the need to maintain connectivity to our city and NI as a whole, with the elimination of Air Passenger Duty as a key to achieving that, and also the importance of extending the reduction in VAT to the competitiveness of the industry.
We know that the Shadow Chancellor listened keenly to the points we raised and we thank her for her ongoing support for the hospitality industry”.
The Shadow Chancellor, Anneliese Dodds MP added, “Northern Ireland is a beautiful and welcoming place and we must do all we can to encourage more people to come, stay and spend. That’s why it was so important to me to meet with representatives of Northern Ireland’s hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors today to understand the challenges they are facing.
“These sectors are vital to the Northern Ireland economy and employ vary large numbers of people. But they are really struggling during the Covid-19 crisis, and the UK government’s decision to withdraw wage support across the economy in one fell swoop will only make things worse.
Many businesses are set to lose support before they’ve been able to get back to their feet. The Chancellor must think twice and work with unions and businesses to protect jobs in sectors like tourism, leisure and hospitality both in Northern Ireland and across the UK”.
Concluding, Glyn Roberts, Chief Executive of Retail NI, said, “Hospitality businesses are crucially important to the vibrancy of city and town centres across Northern Ireland. High streets have been hit hard by COVID-19 and their future success will depend on a variety of experiences with hospitality very much at its heart along with retail. Breathing life back into our high streets to help them through this crisis is crucial. During our discussion with the Shadow Chancellor we outlined our hope that the UK Government recognises the seriousness of the situation and supports the sector with a targeted stimulus package. We are seeing how well the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme is working and this should encourage our own Executive to examine the possibility of a voucher scheme to assist our local retail and hospitality sectors in the months ahead”.
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