During the press conference on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced various measures that immediately hit the hospitality, retail and events sectors hard.
For example, food and beverage outlets will close again from tomorrow evening. Pick up is still possible, hotels do not have to be closed. Events will be banned, with the exception of food markets, cinemas and demonstrations.
At least four weeks
There will be no evening or night clock, but the sale of alcohol will be restricted. It may no longer be sold from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. This also applies to the sale of soft drugs.
Shopping evenings are restricted. Retail shops must close from 8 p.m., with the exception of supermarkets. Enforcement in the stores of hygiene measures and maximum number of visitors will be tightened.
It is not yet clear how long the measures will apply, but the cabinet is thinking of ‘at least four weeks’.
Mouth mask is coming anyway
Wearing a non-medical face mask in public indoor areas is mandatory for everyone from the age of 13. The cabinet wants to ‘settle a drawn-out discussion once and for all’. So far only ‘urgent advice’ applies to wear such a mouth mask. This will remain the case until it has been legally arranged.
All cinemas, theaters and other cultural institutions must have a maximum audience of 30 people.
Chairman of Ondernemend Nederland Hans Biesheuvel calls the measures a hard blow for entrepreneurs. “I understand the government’s choice for additional measures, but this is a blow to sectors such as the travel industry, the catering industry and the events industry.”
‘Hopefully as short as possible’
It is double, says spokesman for the Association of Event Makers Willem Westermann. “The measures are understandable, but we have now been completely turned off. We are the sector that still cannot do anything. That is why we really need more financial support from the government, otherwise we will not make it.”
Event creators are still talking to the government about this, he says. “Let us hope that these new measures will last as short as possible.”
Final blow for the hospitality industry
Shutting down the catering industry means, according to trade association KHN, that all costs now incurred by catering entrepreneurs must be compensated. The support measures should not be reduced, but rather increased.
For example, KHN wants the NOW compensation to be 100 percent, as well as the fixed costs allowance. Because in the eyes of KHN, redundancies are becoming inevitable, they want the associated transition payments to be paid to the entrepreneurs as well.
“The catering industry is hit hard,” says KHN chairman Robèr Willemsen. “This closure is really the final blow for many catering entrepreneurs.” It is also incomprehensible to KHN that no consultation took place about other scenarios in which the catering industry could have remained (partly) open.
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