YES! The hospitality industry may open again from June 1
This is genuinely (and fi-nal-ly) great news: restaurants and cafés may open again from June 1. Subject to certain conditions, of course – but we can once again visit our favorite restaurants and drink a beer outside our own gardens.
And let’s be honest: it was about time. Not only because we’re all slowly going crazy, but also because the hospitality industry really can’t cope with a closure for much longer. More and more restaurants are going bankrupt, and the longer the mandatory closure continues, the harder the blows to the hospitality industry.
One-and-a-half-meter rule
There are, incidentally, a few conditions attached to this easing of the coronavirus measures. For example, a maximum of thirty people may enter hospitality establishments (including staff), and the 1.5-meter rule remains in force. Another condition is that all guests must be able to sit at a table. Reservations will be mandatory, and guests must be asked whether they have health problems that could indicate coronavirus.
Terraces and beach bars may also reopen on June 1. The number of guests hospitality establishments may admit depends on the municipality. And from July 1, cafés, restaurants, cinemas and cultural institutions may once again admit 100 people at the same time.
Questions, questions…
Still, it also raises all kinds of questions from the hospitality industry. What about the traditional brown café, for example? Can it open now or not? Will people be allowed to sit at the bar on June 1? Do you need to make a reservation to sit at the bar? And although it is a blessing for some hospitality businesses, there is still a great deal of uncertainty and helplessness. Or, as this hospitality entrepreneur put it: “30 people including staff is, of course, completely hopeless. Opening then costs more than staying closed. The weather in June is generally still highly changeable. In the evenings it is often still too cold to eat outside. If your terrace is full and it starts raining, they aren’t allowed inside with full plates and glasses. You may have had a few days of good weather and then a week of rain, meaning you have to throw away all your fresh products again – and that happens time and again whenever the weather changes..”
Time will tell. In any case, it is a small step in the right direction…
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