Hospitality businesses in Wales to receive additional £150m in support as lockdown continues

Hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses that must remain closed will be eligible for a third payment of between £4,000 and £5,000 to help them meet ongoing operating costs while they cannot trade, Wales’ first minister Mark Drakeford announced today (12 March).

He also said that from 27 March the Government would lift the ‘stay local’ message and begin opening up Wales’ tourism sector, starting with self-contained accommodation - provided that the public health situation in the country continued to improve.

Making the announcement, Drakeford said that the Government has now made more than £2bn available to businesses over the course of the past year to help them through the pandemic, in addition to the support available from the UK Government’s schemes, describing it as “the most generous business support scheme available anywhere in the United Kingdom”.

The moves have helped safeguard more than 160,000 jobs, he added.

No date has been set for the reopening of the wider hospitality sector in Wales, with Drakeford saying that the Government will continue to take a “careful and cautious” phased approach to unlocking each sector. He said step-by-step changes would be made each week and monitored to track their impact.

In line with its unlocking plans, non-essential retail and garden centres will be allowed to open from 22 March and all shops to reopen from 12 April, in line with England, if the public health situation remains positive.

The latest figures in Wales show there are around 41 cases per 100,000 people in the country, the lowest level since mid-September, although these is some variation across the country.

Drakeford also said the Government would be watching cases in the under 25s, saying that they have “acted as an early warning system for increases to come”.

“If we do too much too quickly, we will lose control of the virus and set off a new wave of infections,” he said. “And then we would be back at the beginning, having to re-impose strict measures to protect people’s health and save lives.”