Holiday Accommodation: Coronavirus

(asked on 19th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason isolated apartments used for holiday accommodation with a shared lobby area not permitted to open on 12 April.


Answered by
Nigel Huddleston Portrait
Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 24th March 2021

Self contained accommodation can open in Step 2 of the Roadmap, which will be no earlier than the 12th April. This is defined as accommodation in which facilities (such as kitchens, sleeping facilities and indoor communal areas such as lobbies, staircases and corridors) are exclusive to single households and their support bubbles.

This means certain types of holiday accommodation cannot open until Step 3, including apartments that can only be accessed via a shared lobby area.

The Government’s reopening plan is to take a cautious, gradual and phased approach to reopening. This will reduce the risk of unsustainable pressure on the NHS, potentially leading to another lockdown. In aggregate, Step 2 prioritises outdoor activity over indoor activity, and activity within households rather than between them, based on the scientific advice about likelihood of transmission. Travel and tourism inherently involves a lot of travel across the country, as well as household mixing. Allowing all guest accommodation and household mixing to reopen at Step 2, before more of the population is vaccinated, could substantially increase the risk of the NHS being put under unsustainable pressure.

The Government has put in a number of measures to assist the sector prior to reopening, including the extension of the furlough scheme, VAT cut and business rates relief as well as the new restart grants.

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