COVID-19 Update 14th April 2021

Impact Of Coronavirus on Tourism Businesses
The GDP figures out today show the severe impact that coronavirus is still having on the UK tourism industry compared with other sectors of the economy. The figures show that, compared to February 2020:
- The air transport sector is down by 91.6%
- Travel agencies and tour operators are down by 87%
- The accommodation sector is down by 73.9%
- Creative, arts and entertainment is down by 59.1%
- Food and beverage is down 51.3%
- Museums, Libraries and other cultural activities is down by 48%

This compares to the average for the UK economy as a whole being a reduction of just 7.8%

Updated Test and Trace Information to Collect
The “Information to collect section of the Test and Trace Guidance has been updated to clarify the information that businesses need to collect and how to do this. The information required is:
- the name of the customer or visitor
- date of visit, arrival time and, where possible, departure time
- a contact phone number for each customer or visitor. If a phone number is not available, you should ask for their email address instead, or if neither are available, then postal address
- the name of the assigned staff member, if a customer or visitor will interact with only one member of staff (for example, a hairdresser). This should be recorded alongside the name of the customer or visitor

This can be collected via:

Other important points to note are:

Venues must not make the specific use of the NHS QR code a precondition of entry (as the individual has the right to choose to provide their contact details if they prefer).
If you are a hospitality venue, you must refuse entry to any customer or visitor who chooses to neither provide their contact details nor scan the official NHS QR code.
You should satisfy yourselves that individuals who are checking in using the official NHS QR code have done so – you may do this by asking the individual if they have scanned the code or ask to view the person’s screen to show the venue check-in screen if you still have reason to believe they haven’t done so.
You must not use this data for any other purposes other than for NHS Test and Trace, unless you would already collect it for another business purpose.

Updated Step 2 Guidance
I attached the wrong link to the updated guidance for Step 2 reopening yesterday so here is the correct version

Business Support Finder Updated
The Government has updated the online tool that businesses can use to determine what support is available to them to take account of the changes in support mechanisms. This tool can be used by businesses in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Updated Support Finder for Individuals
The Government has also updated the online tool for individuals This includes support on:
- what to do if you’re feeling unsafe where you live, or if you’re worried about someone else
- being made redundant or unemployed, or not having any work if you’re self-employed
- mental health and wellbeing, including information for children
- having somewhere to live
- self-isolating
- what to do if you’re worried about going in to work
- getting food or medicine
- paying your bills, rent, or mortgage

This is a good resource for employees to make their staff aware of as part of their duty of care for the wellbeing of their staff

Updated Primary Guidance for Restaurants and Pubs
The primary guidance for restaurants and Pubs has somewhat belatedly been updated to take into account that we are now in Step 2