Some of the 海角视频's largest holiday park operators have come together in a plea to Goverment to be allowed to re-open for the Easter holidays.
The companies, led by Newcastle's Parkdean Resorts, say their sites provide thousands of jobs and are more Covid-secure than many other locations.
But they are warning that many businesses in the sector will fail if they are not operational by Easter, costing thousands of jobs in coastal and rural communities.
The companies say the open nature of their sites - with caravans at least five metres apart by law and families able to keep apart from other groups - means there is little transmission risk. To back up their case they say that there were only 16 cases notified by NHS Track and Trace out of 4.1m visits to parks in 2020.
But they have warned that opening by Easter is crucial for firms, which typically operate on long booking cycles and have two-thirds of their income coming between April and September.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that “people shouldn’t be booking holidays right now – not domestically or internationally”. Downing Street later added that booking a domestic holiday is “a choice for individuals”.
The Government is due to publish the ‘road map’ for lifting coronavirus restrictions on February 22, with pressure growing from various sectors of the economy that want to be allowed to re-open but health chiefs wary of lifting restrictions too early.
The holiday firms said: “Holiday parks should be differentiated from the wider hospitality sector – our parks are safe spaces for people to social distance and have robust hygiene measures in place
Most Read
“We fully support the Government’s decisions to protect the health of our nation and we are grateful to them for the support measures they have introduced throughout this pandemic.
“The hospitality sector is multi-faceted and given our reduced risk profile we want to be disaggregated from the wider sector and treated separately, in accordance with our safety record.
“Throughout 2020, our businesses have gone over and above to eliminate the risk of transmission on our sites, including thorough on-site cleaning and social distancing requirements, and rigorous registration protocols to support effective contact tracing.
“These efforts have demonstrated the safety of our services and out of a total of 4,105,392 visitors across our sites in 2020, NHS Track and Trace has reported only 16 cases of onsite transmission, which is 0.0004%.”
The holiday companies, while asking to be separated from the rest of the tourism industry and allowed to open for the Easter holiday, have also asked for VAT on holidays to be maintanied at 5% and for the business rates holiday to be extended.
The park owners say they are major employers both directly and indirectly, with their visitors often spending with local shops, pubs, restaurants and visitor attractions.
As well as Parkdean, holiday firms Haven, Verdant Leisure, Away Resorts, Bridge Leisure Parks, Haulfryn and Hoburne Holiday Parks are among those backing the campaign.
Don’t miss
Sign up for your daily BusinessLive North East newsletter
You can get all the day's business news from the North East sent to your email inbox each morning.
By signing up here, we will deliver the headlines from companies in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, County Durham and Teesside straight to your email inbox every morning.
Our specialist team of business writers will bring you stories from a range of sectors, reporting on companies large and small.
A spokesperson for Parkdean Resorts said: “If holiday parks are not operational this Easter, many businesses will fail and the economic and social impact will be directly felt in the coastal and rural communities they support.
“These communities are already under tremendous economic pressure, with high levels of poverty, so it is vital that the Government gives us a clear roadmap for reopening, maintains VAT at 5%, and continues the business rates holiday to protect our cash reserves.
“We are actively working with 海角视频 Hospitality and other leading holiday park operators to call on the Government to provide this support, and protect the jobs of the 1,442 people who our group of companies employ across the North East, as well as the livelihoods of the hundreds of local suppliers we work with.”