British tourism and hospitality industry groups have reacted swiftly Liz Truss being appointed the country’s prime minister, by hastily calling for a swathe of reforms to ease the burden on the beleaguered sector.
“We very much look forward to working closely with Liz Truss and the new Cabinet in the coming weeks, as we strive to save the hospitality industry, which is experiencing crushing cost rises.
“The new Government must act quickly and decisively to address the soaring energy bills that are facing consumers and businesses,” said UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls.
The industry lobby group wants the incoming UK government to reduce the hospitality and tourism sector Vat rate to 12.5%. It also wants a freeze on environmental taxes and a holiday period for business rate payments.
The re-introduction of the UK’s trade credit insurance scheme for energy is also being called for.
“Pre-pandemic, our industry spent £10bn a year in high-street regeneration and employed 3.2m people but with energy bills for hospitality businesses rising 300% on average – and as high as 750% in some cases – we desperately need a package of support put in place,” Ms Nicholls said.
Elsewhere, Cumbria Tourism has urged its business members to take part in its latest business ‘tracker’ survey in order to make their feelings heard by the new UK leader.
“There are many challenges on the horizon for tourism businesses,” according to Cumbria Tourism managing director, Gill Haigh.
“This survey spans a wide range of questions, from the energy crisis and spiralling costs to recruitment issues, transport and staff housing. It also explores forward bookings for the winter. We know businesses are worried, but this research will enable us to dig down deeper into the experiences of individual operators and emphatically prove that to key decision-makers.
“Tourism and hospitality are vital for supporting local jobs and communities, and this type of data was vital for making Cumbria’s case for more support during the pandemic,” Ms Haigh said.
