Small hospitality businesses are not happy with the easing of restrictions
There was cheering when people heard about the easing of the coronavirus measures being introduced on 1 July. But not everyone was cheering. Smaller hospitality businesses do not benefit much from the fact that more than 100 people will soon be allowed inside, because they do not have enough space to ensure the mandatory 1.5-metre distance.
Hospitality entrepreneurs in various parts of the country are sounding the alarm. KHN director Dirk Beljaarts also says that the situation is not sustainable for long. “We had hoped for something better. If the 1.5-metre rule remains in place, most hospitality businesses will not get beyond 30 percent of their visitor capacity.”
Beljaarts also points to the easing of restrictions that applies to funfairs and street markets. “So you can stand there with a drink, but on the terrace you have to remain seated. It is difficult not to come across as ungrateful,” he says.
Desperate appeal
Dieuwke Simonis-Stellinga, owner of restaurant Onze Kerk in Hooge Zwaluwe, appealed to Mark Rutte and Hugo de Jonge in a video on Facebook. “I do not understand why it is being made so difficult for people to sit together (if there are no complaints) in a restaurant, while everywhere else outdoors and in people’s homes everything is allowed, or at least appears to be. We are turning the hospitality industry into a place where nobody wants to be anymore.”
She suggests dropping the 1.5-metre rule outdoors and setting a limit indoors on the number of people per square metre. “Give us back our own responsibility, as guests and as entrepreneurs.”
This is not going to work
And she is not the only one who finds the easing insufficient. On Omroep Brabant, Ger Couvreur, owner of café ’t Tapperijke and, by his own account, Breda’s oldest publican, shared his story. With the 1.5-metre rule, he can receive fifteen guests in his pub. “You can keep that up for a few weeks or a few months, but if this continues, it could mean the end. If no money comes in, there is no other way out: the key gets turned and then it is over.”
Smart distancing
Many entrepreneurs are calling for smart distancing instead of social distancing, relying on everyone’s common sense and allowing people to determine the distance between them themselves.
The industry association says it will continue to raise the alarm. Especially because, according to KHN, discussions in the Netherlands focus only on what is not possible, leaving no room to discuss what is needed. “Over the next few days, we will have to see what the best course of action is,” says Beljaarts.
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