“Hospitality sector needs more targeted support from govt,” says Restaurant Association CEO
Leaders and advocates in hospitality industry are calling for more targeted support from the government including wage subsidy at least for next three months to see through the massive Omicron wave that is witnessing daily case numbers of 20k and potentially keeping customers away from
The beleaguered hospitality sector continues to suffer despite the latest support announced by the government as 46 percent of restaurants and cafes will fail to qualify the eligibility criteria says Marisa Bidois, CEO, Restaurant Association New Zealand.
Bidois told the Indian Weekender that the support announced recently by the government although welcome but will not help the sector out of woods entirely.
“When we first reached out to the government, we went with the idea that a resurgent support will be given to the business and also wage subsidy in place as well.”
“Just because the losses the business were experiencing were just as equal, if not lower than during the lockdowns under Alert Level 3 and 4 last year,” Bidois said.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has recently announced targeted support for some hospitality and event sector businesses reeling under the impact of the ongoing Omicron wave.
A business could get $4000 plus $400 for each full-time employee, with a cap of $24,000, and will be available on a fortnightly basis for six weeks – so three payments in total.
To be eligible for this support payment, businesses must show a 40 per cent drop in seven consecutive days within the six weeks prior to the shift to Phase 2 of the Omicron response on February 15.
“I think we were heard, but we would have liked to see all this coming out more sooner," Bidois said
46 percent hospitality business will not qualify for govt’s latest support
However, many hospitality businesses are finding it hard to show significant fall in revenue in comparison to January– a period – that already was bad for the sector due to the Red-level settings under the traffic light system.
“Many of our businesses are traditionally quiet during that time as we know during the summer period our CBDs are often clear out, and January 2022 was in-particular exceptionally quiet for our Auckland businesses as you may recall that Aucklanders were not able to travel regionally for quite a long time due to lockdown. It really created a phase where our Auckland CBD was completely quiet.”
“When this announcement came we were very happy to hear that more support was coming but as we dug down deeper we realised that most of our businesses were not able to qualify just because of comparison period.”
“We did go to the Finance Minister and said look we would really appreciate if you could have a relook on this comparison period and it would be great if it could be compared to a normal trading period that may be August 2021.
“They did luckily look back and adjust those days. Unfortunately, it was not what we asked for, but it was still an extension to that comparison period,” Bidois said.
“Now businesses are required to show a revenue fall in comparison to January 2021 and that has made more businesses eligible for that financial support payment.”
“In our latest survey where we had more than 1000 businesses respond only 54 per cent said they would be eligible.”
“So, there are still quite a big chunk of businesses that are still not eligible for the financial support from the government,” Bidois said.
"We are also advocating that the government should consider targeted financial support for struggling hospitality businesses for at tleast three months when we are hoping to see the end of the Covid pandemic," Bidois furtehr added.
Leaders and advocates in hospitality industry are calling for more targeted support from the government including wage subsidy at least for next three months to see through the massive Omicron wave that is witnessing daily case numbers of 20k and potentially keeping customers away from
The...
Leaders and advocates in hospitality industry are calling for more targeted support from the government including wage subsidy at least for next three months to see through the massive Omicron wave that is witnessing daily case numbers of 20k and potentially keeping customers away from
The beleaguered hospitality sector continues to suffer despite the latest support announced by the government as 46 percent of restaurants and cafes will fail to qualify the eligibility criteria says Marisa Bidois, CEO, Restaurant Association New Zealand.
Bidois told the Indian Weekender that the support announced recently by the government although welcome but will not help the sector out of woods entirely.
“When we first reached out to the government, we went with the idea that a resurgent support will be given to the business and also wage subsidy in place as well.”
“Just because the losses the business were experiencing were just as equal, if not lower than during the lockdowns under Alert Level 3 and 4 last year,” Bidois said.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has recently announced targeted support for some hospitality and event sector businesses reeling under the impact of the ongoing Omicron wave.
A business could get $4000 plus $400 for each full-time employee, with a cap of $24,000, and will be available on a fortnightly basis for six weeks – so three payments in total.
To be eligible for this support payment, businesses must show a 40 per cent drop in seven consecutive days within the six weeks prior to the shift to Phase 2 of the Omicron response on February 15.
“I think we were heard, but we would have liked to see all this coming out more sooner," Bidois said
46 percent hospitality business will not qualify for govt’s latest support
However, many hospitality businesses are finding it hard to show significant fall in revenue in comparison to January– a period – that already was bad for the sector due to the Red-level settings under the traffic light system.
“Many of our businesses are traditionally quiet during that time as we know during the summer period our CBDs are often clear out, and January 2022 was in-particular exceptionally quiet for our Auckland businesses as you may recall that Aucklanders were not able to travel regionally for quite a long time due to lockdown. It really created a phase where our Auckland CBD was completely quiet.”
“When this announcement came we were very happy to hear that more support was coming but as we dug down deeper we realised that most of our businesses were not able to qualify just because of comparison period.”
“We did go to the Finance Minister and said look we would really appreciate if you could have a relook on this comparison period and it would be great if it could be compared to a normal trading period that may be August 2021.
“They did luckily look back and adjust those days. Unfortunately, it was not what we asked for, but it was still an extension to that comparison period,” Bidois said.
“Now businesses are required to show a revenue fall in comparison to January 2021 and that has made more businesses eligible for that financial support payment.”
“In our latest survey where we had more than 1000 businesses respond only 54 per cent said they would be eligible.”
“So, there are still quite a big chunk of businesses that are still not eligible for the financial support from the government,” Bidois said.
"We are also advocating that the government should consider targeted financial support for struggling hospitality businesses for at tleast three months when we are hoping to see the end of the Covid pandemic," Bidois furtehr added.
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