‘Open up the hospitality industry!’: many businesses are simply going to do it this weekend
Tomorrow the time has come again: another press conference. By now, the coronavirus crisis has been going on for almost two years and it is becoming untenable for more and more hospitality businesses and shopkeepers. Keeping their heads above water is becoming nearly impossible, and as a result resistance to the current strict lockdown is greater than ever.
The first information about the government’s decision regarding the lockdown seems to have leaked again. Sources in The Hague report that higher education will reopen from Saturday, more room will be made for sports and shopping by appointment will be possible again. But wait a minute: does that mean the hospitality industry will remain closed?!
For the hospitality industry, just as for many other sectors, the third lockdown in two years is a huge blow, on top of all the other restrictions imposed on the sector (such as the one-and-a-half-metre distance and a limited number of people—regardless of the size of the business). Now that it is clear omicron causes much less severe illness than previously expected, this is the moment to bring the hospitality industry and shops out of lockdown.
Statement directed at politicians
Where a few months ago many hospitality businesses were still staging a light-hearted action to draw attention to the sad situation in which many companies find themselves, it now appears that this weekend the actions will no longer be light-hearted, but that businesses will really open their doors no matter what. ‘The situation has truly become untenable now,’ Martijn van Battum, chairman of a business association in Terneuzen, tells GO RTV. ‘This is our way of making a clear statement to politicians.’
Opening their own city
And Martijn is not the only one. Koninklijk Horeca Nederland is also calling on the government to bring our country out of ‘sleep mode’. They are explicitly asking the government to look at what is possible and, at the same time, to take into account the economic and social importance of reopening the hospitality sector for society. In addition to KNH and hospitality entrepreneurs, several municipalities are also planning to reopen, regardless of tomorrow’s advice. Yesterday, Dordrecht even renamed the city Antwerp. The Belgian city is packed with Dutch day-trippers, while shops and restaurants in their own country and city remain completely closed.
It really can’t go on any longer
It is not only the entrepreneurs themselves who are calling for relaxations; to put it mildly, (almost) everyone is absolutely fed up with it. In response to a statement by De Telegraaf, 71% say they are in favour of no longer waiting to ease the restrictions. More than 46 petitions have also been launched recently on Petities.nl against the current lockdown.
Whatever tomorrow’s outcome, it is once again clear that immediate action must be taken. Tick-tock, time bomb: it really cannot go on like this any longer. Business organisations such as MKB-Nederland and VNO-NCW understand entrepreneurs who say they will open their doors this weekend if the current lockdown ends, regardless of the government’s decision tomorrow.
Read also:
- Shocking: this is the loss of turnover in the hospitality industry during this strict lockdown
- The most bizarre hospitality experiences
- Starting out as a dishwasher in the hospitality industry; this could be the moment
Source: Misset Horeca, De Telegraaf, GO RTV, RTL
