KHN is furious: do not introduce entry testing across the entire hospitality industry!
Anyone who follows the news even a little cannot avoid the question: will we soon have to introduce entry testing in the hospitality industry after all? Industry association Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN) strongly disagrees with the plans: the sector is being used to pressure people into getting vaccinated.
France introduced the policy in August — resulting in fierce protests — Brussels is considering it (while the rest of Belgium is actually easing restrictions), and in the Netherlands the cabinet is now also considering allowing only people with a valid COVID certificate to enter hospitality venues.
Restrictions yet again
KHN is absolutely not happy with the cabinet’s plans to allow access to hospitality venues only to people who have been vaccinated or can show a negative test. As things currently stand, the whole of the Netherlands is working towards easing restrictions as of 25 September, but the hospitality industry is once again facing additional restrictions.
In addition to entry testing, which would require hospitality operators to carry out checks at the door, the government reportedly wants to make the use of a doorman and ticket sales mandatory for all hospitality venues that are open after 10 p.m. and produce more than 60dB of sound.
Vaccination temptation
Unacceptable, according to KHN, which believes that the cabinet is using the sector to pressure people into getting vaccinated, as we already saw with ‘Dancing after Janssen’, intended to encourage as many young people as possible to get vaccinated. People responded; many young people got vaccinated with Janssen so they could attend a party that same evening and go to numerous festivals throughout the rest of the summer.
And that was while outgoing minister De Jonge knew that the vaccine would not work immediately, resulting in numerous infections. The fact that the festival season was subsequently cancelled anyway made the ‘Dancing after Janssen’ story even more bitter.
Reactions: ‘no!’
The hospitality industry sees nothing in the cabinet’s plans to allow access to cafés and restaurants only to people who have been vaccinated or can present a negative COVID test, and the reactions on KHN’s Facebook page are therefore far from mild:
‘Isn’t this just an outright declaration of war by the cabinet against the nightlife industry? Ending all support as of 1 October and then presenting this draft plan with additional restrictive measures. After you have been closed for a year and a half or have barely been able to operate. Hospitality is about hospitality, and everyone is welcome as long as they follow the house rules!’
‘The hospitality industry should collectively say no. Get lost with those ridiculous rules that have absolutely nothing to do with COVID anymore. It almost seems as if they are deliberately destroying the hospitality industry. The cabinet has really lost the plot.’
‘Enough is enough! More costs because of doormen, less revenue because of ticket checks, and stopping support — what a bunch of idiots in The Hague.’
‘They are doing everything they can to bring down the hospitality and events industry? Unvaccinated people are not allowed into a pub/theater, etc., but they can be packed in supermarkets/universities/the city or the market/garden centres, etc. And are vaccinated people exempt from the virus? Maybe if they get jab number 3 or 4?’
Huge staff shortage
KHN chairman Robèr Willemsen believes that the cabinet must stop targeting the hospitality industry. ‘As a sector, we are still dealing with restrictions, there is an enormous staff shortage due to all the uncertainty, and the mountain of debt is huge. I am absolutely furious because it is unacceptable that the hospitality industry constantly has to play police officer.’
He also subtly points out that the 1.5-metre distance is hardly enforced anywhere anymore, and he believes that the government’s COVID policy is ‘by now impossible to explain’ (hello, Zandvoort!).
No testing society
Next Tuesday, 14 September, the preliminary injunction hearing will take place in which KNH is demanding that the requirements for the nightlife hospitality industry be aligned with those for other hospitality businesses. Hopefully, KHN will also be able to get entry testing for the hospitality industry scrapped.
Source: Misset Horeca
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