The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) WA wants WA’s hospitality venues to open with sensible but limited restrictions if the state’s lockdown period ends as planned at 6pm tomorrow, in order to save tens of thousands of jobs and stem the economic losses which are well over $10 million per day.
AHA(WA) CEO Bradley Woods said while we will have to wait to see what the testing tells us, in the event WA has no new cases of COVID-19, WA’s hotels, bars, pubs, restaurants and taverns should be allowed to open as soon as possible with modified conditions.
“WA’s hotel and hospitality business and their staff have been excessively impacted by COVID-19 and this lockdown has compounded the losses incurred in 2020,” Mr Woods said.
“We understand that there will not be a return to pre-lockdown Phase 4 conditions. If we have one more day of no new cases, hospitality venues should be allowed to reopen with limited and reasonable restrictions.”
“Hospitality businesses have COVID-safe plans, mandated contact tracing and comprehensive staff training in place, making them more prepared than ever to provide safe venues for patrons and workers.”
“Hospitality businesses also need time to prepare their venues, ensure there are sufficient stock levels and organise staff, so it is critical that they are provided with adequate notice of how and when the industry can reopen.”
“We look forward to continuing our consultation with the Government on behalf of WA’s hospitality industry to ensure reopening restrictions are viable and allow as many staff to return to work as possible.”
“With hospitality venues still recovering from the damage imposed in 2020, we need to ensure they can return to normal trading conditions as soon as possible to safeguard jobs and get the industry back on track.”
