Advice to defer Christmas parties ‘heavy, heavy blow’ to hospitality sector
Public Health Scotland said a number of Omicron cases have been linked to parties.
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Your support makes all the difference.Official advice urging people to postpone Christmas parties is a “heavy heavy blow” to the hospitality sector, a trade body has said.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) has urged people to defer celebrations given the number of Covid-19 outbreaks, particularly those caused by the new Omicron variant of coronavirus, that are being linked to Christmas parties.
Scottish Hospitality Group (SHG) spokesman Stephen Montgomery said that the sector “really needed this Christmas to be a good one” after last year.
However he said that many places have already had cancellations since the PHS announcement on Thursday evening and suggested the new advice would drive people to celebrate in unsafe places like house parties.
He told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “We know that hospitality is a safe place to be, we’ve invested millions over the last 20 months in whether it be ventilation, extra staff to make sure people are kept safe or washing down tables etc.
“This is a heavy heavy blow for hospitality.”
The SHG comprises many restaurant and bar businesses, including the DRG Group, Buzzworks Holdings, Signature Pubs, Montpeliers, Manorview Group and The Townhead Hotel in Lockerbie.
Mr Montgomery said members are already feeling the impact of the PHS advice with cancellations.
He said: “From the time the PHS statement came out about 5, 5.30pm, it was just non-stop and personally myself through SHG I’ve been in here since about 2.30am answering emails, getting back to customers, getting back to members, getting back to general people who were asking.
“Today I think we need the First Minister or a senior member of the government to make a strong public statement to steady the ship and that we all know where we are going to be for Christmas because January is predominantly a quiet month for hospitality and last year we had what we called a Cinderella Christmas where everybody had to be home and in bed (by) midnight, so we really needed this Christmas to be a good one and we know hospitality is a safe place to be.”
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said she is “extremely sympathetic” to the concerns of the hospitality sector and will do anything she can to provide assistance.
She stated that within a fixed budget extra help needs to come from the UK Government and said that the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales have asked for this a number of times, with another request sent yesterday.
Ms Forbes told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “Quite clearly we are growing concerned at the rate at which Omicron is transmitting across communities and quite clearly we’ve learned time and again that preventative action means less drastic action later down the line.”
PHS said early evidence suggests that the Omicron variant is much more transmissible than others and that a number of outbreaks have been linked to parties.
Dr Christine Tait-Burkard, a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute and an expert on coronaviruses, said Omicron loves “super-spreading opportunities” and that Christmas parties are a “high-risk environment” because people are close together, are not wearing masks, and may be less inhibited because of alcohol.
She told the broadcaster: “I wouldn’t say Omicron is doom and gloom but we need to be cautious right now because exponential growth can catch us. Because it is exponential it grows so quickly that we’ll have the big numbers right at the time when we don’t want it, which is Christmas, New Year.”