Rule of six will hit hospitality hard, says poll

The new rule, which restricts social gatherings of more than six people, will affect businesses, with 21% of hospitality leaders in the poll saying it will have a major impact and 37% saying it will have a moderate impact.

Almost a third of businesses (27%) says it will have a minor impact while only 11% said it would have no impact.

A further 3%, however, believe it will be positive.

A majority of leaders say they are already seeing the new rule have a negative impact on their businesses with cancelled bookings, with 18% reporting a major impact, 31% moderate and 22% a minor impact.

Results from CGA’s Consumer Pulse survey have revealed that nearly 60% of consumers who were intending to go out had cancelled plans or would not be making new ones in the future.

A large proportion of businesses believe that increased cases of the virus could have been caused by the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, with 27% agreeing it could be linked, and 12% strongly believing in a link.

Meanwhile, 14% of businesses strongly disagree there was a link, 19% tended to disagree, and 29% were unsure.

Most operators say they have not experienced Coronavirus in their venues, with 88% reporting they have had no cases.

Confidence was flat week on week, with 67% saying they felt positive about the future for their business.

Lumina Intelligence polled 219 hospitality leaders on behalf of BigHospitality, MCA and The Morning Advertiser.