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Hoteliers in Bristol are preparing to recruit at least 500 new employees ahead of the loosening of coronavirus restrictions and a potential surge in demand for 海角视频-based holidays this summer.

As part of the government鈥檚 鈥榬oadmap鈥� plans to lead the country out of the national lockdown, hotels in England may be able to fully reopen from May 17 at the earliest.

The Bristol Hoteliers Association (BHA), which represents 40 hotels offering between them around 4,000 rooms, has said its members were looking to ensure they are adequately staffed, with uncertainty surrounding the return of international travel.

Under the current staggered plans people across England, Wales and Scotland will also be able to holiday abroad from May 17, with Northern Ireland yet to announce its plans.

A government taskforce is expected to give an update on these guidelines on 12 April, amid concerns about a new wave of Covid-19 cases and the slow rollout of vaccines across Europe.

BHA chair Raphael Herzog said: 鈥淎fter one of the most difficult years any of us can remember we are now in a position to begin to plan with some certainty for when we can re-open, hopefully without having to go back into lockdown again.

鈥淎round the city, hotels will be looking to recruit at least 500 people, and are planning to recruit even more over the summer, as efforts are made to promote Bristol as a destination and attract tourists back to the city.鈥�

Beyond the summer Mr Herzog said that BHA members had reported an increase in enquiries from businesses about conferences from September and had even started taking enquiries about Christmas parties.

Mr Herzog added: 鈥淲ith many companies still forced to work from home, or downsizing their offices, it is clear that the demand for small meetings will be strong, as people will still have to meet up, and many have had enough of Microsoft Teams and Zoom, and would prefer face-to-face meetings.

鈥淚f all restrictions are lifted on June 21, as provisionally laid out in the Government鈥檚 roadmap, it is expected that many family gatherings will return to hotels, such as wedding anniversaries, milestone birthdays, christenings and other celebrations.

鈥淢any hotels also have a backlog of weddings that were postponed because of the pandemic, and some are still hoping to host around 100 weddings between June and December. All these positive steps forward are why hotels are now getting ready to recruit.鈥�

Many of the hotels will be supporting their recruitment drive with the government鈥檚 Kickstart Scheme.

The initiative provides funding to employers to create job placements for people aged between 16 and 24 who are on Universal Credit or at risk of long-term unemployment. Funding will be provided to pay for 25 hours of work per week for six months.

Mr Herzog said the scheme would be 鈥渆xtremely valuable鈥� not only for the city鈥檚 young people but for the long-term recovery for hotels, who would not instantly be able to operate at the same levels of income they had before lockdown.

鈥淚f our businesses recover as we hope they will, and the young people find that they enjoy their experience in the hospitality industry, then perhaps this is not just a short-term support scheme to help kick-start our recovery but could be the beginning of a long and enjoyable career for people in our wonderful sector," he said.

鈥淭he hospitality industry has been one of the hardest hit through the pandemic; we鈥檝e always been among the first businesses to be forced to close and among the last to be able to re-open through each lockdown.

鈥淏ut there is finally some cause for optimism now and that is going to be positive news for our businesses, positive news for the city as a whole, and very welcome news for the hundreds of people we are going to be looking to recruit over the coming weeks."