Relaxation of two-metre distancing rule; 4 July reopening date confirmed; and guidance links
The Prime Minister’s statement to the commons yesterday confirmed the relaxation of the two-metre distancing rule to ‘one-metre plus’ in England, where one metre plus means staying at least one-metre apart and taking mitigating actions to reduce risk.
He also announced that bars, pubs, restaurants, hotels, museums, galleries, leisure assets, some health and beauty facilities and places of worship can reopen from next Saturday, 4 July.
A general summary of yesterday’s announcement can be found here.
This was the announcement we have been asking and hoped for and is an important first step towards the safe reopening of the visitor economy; however, there’s now lots of work to do to analyse the full implications of guidelines and standards.
The following guidelines specific to the tourism, hospitality and leisure industries have been made available so far:
- The visitor economy, which includes hotels and guest accommodation, indoor and outdoor attractions, and business events and consumer shows
- Restaurants, pubs, bars and takeaway services
- Hotels and other guest accommodation
- Heritage Locations
- Offices and contact centres
- UKHospitality Protocols
The hub where you can find all guidance published so far across all industries is here and may be useful for partners that operate in more than one type of workplace such as a shop, office, contact centre or fleet of vehicles.
Please keep a regular eye on the Tourism and Hospitality Support Hub for further updates including UKHospitality Guidelines and the details of VisitEngland’s ‘Good to Go’ Standards scheme – we will upload them to the hub as soon as they become available.
Marketing Manchester Partner Meeting – final chance to register
Following yesterday’s announcements to assist with the safe reopening of the tourism, hospitality and leisure industries tomorrow’s Marketing Manchester Partner Meeting will be an important opportunity to discuss implications, concerns and opportunities.
The meeting will be conducted in a webinar format and will run from 11:00-12:00 tomorrow – register here now.
Of course, we anticipate lots of questions following yesterday’s announcements, so we have set up a form for you to submit in advance and allowing us to through as many as possible. Please submit your questions here.
Tourism and hospitality online learning
Last week we updated on the Tourism and Hospitality Talent Hub which draws on established employment services offered by The Growth Company, with specialist input from the team at Marketing Manchester and The Manchester Hoteliers’ Association (MHA).
The Growth Company’s Skills Support for Workforce service offers a variety of industry focused courses to upskill staff, including awards, certificates and diploma qualifications to choose from. In line with government guidance, the Skills Support for Workforce team are currently running online delivery of their courses which are fully accessible to furloughed staff.
For more information and a list of courses available please get in touch with Margaret Bartnikiewicz via email: talenthub@growthco.uk or call 07503 620815.
Manchester Misses You campaign
The campaign, featured on the Visit Manchester website provides visitors with vibrant virtual content including cultural and education experiences from across Greater Manchester, that can be enjoyed from home.
The response to the campaign has been fantastic – so thank you – we have published 119 articles on the website, which has received over 60,000 visitors since the campaign began, 1.7 million impressions on Twitter and over 2.5 million impressions on Facebook.
Following yesterday’s announcements, we will shortly be moving into our recovery campaign phase and will be in touch next week with details about on the type of content that we need from you. In the meantime please continue to share Manchester Misses You contributions with stuart.aiken@marketingmanchester.com.
Partner news
In addition to sharing content for the Manchester Misses You campaign, we are keen to receive positive news stories from our partners that we can amplify via our corporate channels as we gradually move out of lockdown. Recent news to share includes:
- Rochdale welcomes visitors looking for inspiring staycations
- HOME aim to reopen cinemas, bars and restaurant on 4th September
- Ocean announce the launch of £1 million Crucial Creative Competition
If you have your own news to share please email it to press@marketingmanchester.com FAO of Andy Parkinson. Please also add this email address to your media/press distribution lists.
Tourism and Hospitality Support Hub
To make sure that tourism and hospitality businesses are given the most up to date information, we continue to service the Tourism and Hospitality Support Hub to signpost and connect the sector to advice, webinars, support and guidance across a variety of areas.
The Hub includes a series of FAQs. If you have any specific questions or would like to talk to someone, we have set up an email address and number to contact us on: supporthub@marketingmanchester.com.
Latest Links
- Government guidance for the Visitor Economy
- The sector specific guidelines for bars and restaurants have also been released
- Visit Britain Business Recovery Webinar Programme
- Government has announced a £200 million package to help innovative businesses. Businesses can apply for support through the Sustainable Innovation Fund by visiting the Innovate UK website from 29 June
- Updated guidance for food businesses which includes a new section on the prevention of infection and a revised section on the management of outbreaks including contact details for health protection teams.
- Additional guidance has been added for publicans on the process of destroying spoilt beer, ciders, wine or made-wine.
- Details have been published on what to do if you’ve over claimed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
- UKHospitality has produced an FAQ for pub businesses which addresses some of the most commonly asked questions we have received around getting ready for reopening. FAQs for other hospitality businesses will also be available in due course.
- A New video on flexible furloughing is available for buildings and land in town centres to change use without planning permission and create new homes from the regeneration of vacant and redundant buildings.
- Safer travel guidance for passengers and operators in England has been updated with information on social distancing.