COVID-19 Update 27th April

Coronavirus Restrictions

The guidance on Coronavirus restrictions has been updated to include a new section on travel to and from Scotland in order to take account of the changes that come into play today. In case you were wondering, there are now no restrictions on entering or leaving Scotland as long as you are travelling within the UK or Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Non-essential travel between Scotland and the Republic of Ireland remains restricted under Scottish law, but the restriction will be kept under review. Under the restrictions it is illegal to travel between Scotland and the Republic of Ireland unless you have a reasonable excuse and travelling for a holiday is not a reasonable excuse.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do

Coronavirus And The Outdoors

ONS has published research on trends in the types of outdoor activity that people have been undertaking over the last year which will be of interest to outdoor attractions and destinations. The research has found that:

• • The percentage of people visiting an outdoor attraction has stayed at around 10% over the first two weeks of Step 2
  • Visits to parks are above normal levels for this time of year
  • The level of exercise that people do declines when we come out of lockdown

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/howhaslockdownchangedourrelationshipwithnature/2021-04-26

Payments for NI Businesses

The Northern Ireland Executive has announced the extension of payments to businesses under the COVID Restrictions Business Support Scheme (CRBSS), Part A and Part B, and the Large Hospitality and Tourism Business Support Scheme (LHTBSS)  until 23 May for those businesses who remain eligible. Top-up payments will automatically be issued to eligible businesses under both schemes in line with ongoing restrictions.

https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/news/dodds-announces-payments-be-extended-under-two-business-support-schemes

Resilient Firms

ONS has produced a regression analysis to indicate which industries and firms were most resilient to coronavirus in terms of turnover. Unsurprisingly, the analysis should that tourism relates businesses were the least resilient. Here’s a link to the data tables that you can download

https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/industriesandfirmswhereturnoverwasresilientduringthecoronaviruscovid19pandemicfirmlevelregressiontables