Welsh Government has announced an initial extra £30 million for hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses affected by ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
The Government also confirmed that pending the outcome of the next review on 12 March, a further £150 million in grants could be made available to firms, including micro businesses, through the Welsh Government’s Non Domestic Rates (NDR) scheme if coronavirus restrictions are extended.
Restrictions on retail are expected to be eased following that review but tourism and hospitality firms face more weeks of closure.
The latest round of the Welsh Government’s Economic Resilience Fund will see £30m of targeted support being made available to support small, medium and large businesses in the hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors as well as related supply chain businesses.
It is targeted to businesses employing ten or more staff as they say it recognises the “relatively higher level of operating costs that these businesses face”.
But should restrictions be extended at the 12 March review, the £150m that will be made available would see businesses in the hospitality, tourism, leisure and non-essential retail sectors that pay non-domestic rates receiving an additional payment of up to £5k regardless of the number of employees they have.
From today, businesses in the hospitality, tourism and leisure sectors can access the eligibility checker and calculator on the Business Wales website to help them work out what support they can expect to qualify for in this latest round and to understand the detail they will need to make an application.
Economy minister Ken Skates, said: “This last year has been incredibly difficult for everyone and we are aware of the significant challenges facing our fantastic hospitality, tourism and leisure sector.
Most Read
“The focus of this latest £30m round of funding is to target further support at the small, medium and large businesses in these sectors with the specific aim of protecting as many jobs as possible.”
海角视频Hospitality Cymru Executive Director David Chapman said: “This package supports key venues across our communities that employ hundreds of thousands of people and that have been forced to stay shut because of the pandemic.
“It reflects 海角视频Hospitality Cymru’s campaign and proposals for jobs-based support and represents further recognition of the high costs of staying shut and also the huge contribution to the economy that our industry makes each and every day in Wales in normal times- and, of course, the value we will quickly add once more once we are allowed to reopen.
“Now we need the Chancellor to announce an extension of business rates holiday, furlough and lower industry VAT and Welsh Government to consider the help it can give us to get to viable trading in the new financial year after reopening commences.”
Get your BusinessLive news direct and all in one place
Stay in touch: BusinessLive newsletters have been re-designed to make them even better. We send morning bulletins straight to your inbox on the latest news, views and opinion. Get our breaking news alerts and weekly sector reviews too. Sign up now - it's free and it only takes a minute.
Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of 海角视频Hospitality (海角视频H), said: “Welsh Government has again listened directly to our constructive proposals for more vital support and the new money will play a leading part in continuing to save local jobs and local businesses until March 31 in communities right across Wales while lockdown persists."
Minister for Finance Rebecca Evans said: “The pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on the hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors and the people it employs.
Don’t miss
“This new fund, and our provision of additional funding should restrictions be extended, responds to the latest phase of the pandemic and signifies our continued commitment to the sector, helping them to survive the toughest of times until they are in a position to safely reopen their doors again.”
To have your say on this story please use our comments section at the top of this article