Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Jul 27, 2025

UK hospitality industry calls for 'urgent' support

"Urgent" support is needed to prevent "widespread devastation", the hospitality sector has warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Around 120 hospitality and tourism bosses have signed an open letter calling for aid and investment.

The industry wants to see VAT reduced, tax bills further deferred and some rent debt covered through grants.

Bosses say parts of the sector will not survive because some businesses remain closed, despite the easing of lockdown.

"Hospitality businesses operate with very high fixed costs and labour costs are the only flexible point to absorb this suppressed demand," the letter said.

"Many parts of the late night and leisure economy, as well as activities such as events and conferencing in our hotels, have no provisional date for reopening and this is impacting confidence and undermining job security."

Labour is calling for the government to create a £1.7bn "fightback fund" to prevent firms in the hospitality industry and on High Streets from going under.

It wants ministers to give councils more flexibility to tailor support for their local economies and better focus funds on struggling businesses, such as hotels and cafes in coastal communities, as well as conference centres and music venues in towns and cities.

The Treasury said the government's job retention scheme had protected 9.2 million jobs, adding that the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, had announced a business rates holiday specifically for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.

Bosses claim that the hospitality and tourism industry have been hardest hit by the crisis, compared to other sectors. They also argue that the impact is likely to last longer than in other sectors, due to social distancing rules, restrictions on business events and lower demand from international tourists.


Recovery help needed

"Sales across the sector are expected to be 56% lower than last year, reducing revenues by £73.4bn and half of businesses do not expect to reach break even until the end of next year," the hospitality industry warned.

Trade group UK Hospitality says it is "confident" that the industry can return to full strength and still be able to operate safely and responsibly, but it will require help from the government to enable businesses to "restart and begin to recover" over the remainder of 2020 and into 2021.

To that end, bosses have outlined a set of recommendations for the government, which include:

Automatically extending the deferral of all tax liabilities that are due in July
Providing a grant to cover a proportion of rent debt during closure, reopening and recovery
Temporarily reducing VAT to 5% for tourism services
Extending furlough for hospitality businesses to protect jobs
Doubling the employer National Insurance contributions threshold to protect a return to part-time work
Extending the hospitality business rates holiday to March 2022
The hospitality industry stressed in the letter that the sector has a record of creating new jobs following a crisis, and that it can be trusted to do it again, with help from the government.

"In the decade that followed the financial crisis hospitality consistently created around one in six new jobs thanks in part to the VAT cuts and investment in youth employment and training introduced in the immediate aftermath," hospitality bosses wrote.

"We can do so again. Physical hospitality cannot be replicated digitally online, in the same way that some form of retail can be. We therefore urge you and your colleagues across government to work with us to stimulate demand and support the sector's recovery."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
×