You don’t need to be an expert to appreciate the hugely challenging times the Scottish hotels and hospitality sector is facing. The move to Covid Protection Level 4 for most of west central Scotland, where all non-essential businesses are now forced to close, and strict new legal rules on travel, are bound to make this challenge even greater.
The hospitality sector understands and supports the Scottish Government’s aim of safeguarding public health, but there is also real concern about how the new rules have been drawn up and implemented. Many of the hospitality business owners and operators that we speak to believe they will be catastrophic for the sector. After the lockdown in spring, some hotels and hospitality firms – particularly in coastal and rural areas – experienced a brief summer respite with a welcome increase in UK domestic holidays. In 2020, around 7 out of 10 Scots holidayed in their home country, with many younger people enjoying rural parts of Scotland for the first time.
However, these latest restrictions, combined with Level 3 rules – which require restaurants and pubs to close early and prevent them from serving alcohol indoors – remaining in place in many other parts of the nation, could further damage consumer confidence. They are also likely to deter many people from booking breaks in cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh for the foreseeable future. A survey published by the Office for National Statistics on 19 November showed that one third of UK hospitality firms had no or low confidence of surviving the next three months. There is a ‘back to the 1970s’ feel in the hospitality industry this winter with many hotels closing until February and hoping they will emerge from hibernation into a more benign environment.
The Scottish tourism sector supports over 200,000 jobs and, before the pandemic, was worth over £4 billion to our annual economy – and it needs to be safeguarded. Hospitality businesses feel that they must be given greater consideration when decisions are being made that directly impact upon their viability.
This is not simply a question of handing over more public money to the sector. Businesses want a more transparent framework for the imposition, and relaxation, of restrictions over the coming months and for that to be consistently applied.
The hospitality sector is keen to avoid being caught up in a ‘victim or villain’ narrative. It is asking for greater access to government to discuss the profound effect of current and planned restrictions on employment as well as health & safety issues and financial viability. There are persistent concerns that parts of government simply do not understand that hotel businesses, with their heavy reliance on staff and complex supply chains, cannot be repeatedly turned off and on again on just three days’ notice.
We all welcome the positive reports from the Covid-19 vaccine trials going on across the world. The sector’s spirits were lifted by suggestions by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman in the Scottish Parliament on 19 November that everyone in Scotland over the age of 18 could be offered a vaccine by spring 2021.
However, we also need to be realistic about the time lag between vaccinating the Scottish public and economic recovery. And roll out of vaccination programmes may not be as fast in other countries around the world.
Scottish hospitality has been rocked by the coronavirus and the sector is likely to suffer a form of ‘long Covid’ due to the financial stress it’s endured for many months, and possibly years, to come.
Given the economic importance of the Scottish tourism industry, which is made possible by the structural support of so many hospitality businesses, it will be essential that assistance is provided to help them recover over the longer term as we emerge from this crisis.
Roland Smyth, Head of the Scottish Hotels & Leisure Group at international law firm CMS
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