Hospitality sector confident UK will avoid another post-summer lockdown

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Operators within the hospitality sector are confident that the UK will avoid going into another lockdown after the summer, according to the latest Lumina Intelligence Hospitality Leaders Poll.

As the hospitality sector in England starts to reopen tentatively from today (12 April) with outdoor trading, just under three quarters of business leaders (72%) believe it is unlikely there will be another enforced national lockdown later in the year.

Operators believe the UK’s vaccination programme rollout, where the majority of the UK population that needs it will have had at least their first vaccination by late summer, will mean the country will avoid a repetition of last year, when restaurants were forced to reclose after a bumper summer of trading.

Businesses also believe that delivery volumes will decrease slightly once lockdown for hospitality lifts, with 55% predicting that delivery volumes will decrease slightly but will still remain at higher levels than before the pandemic

Only a very small minority of operators (6%) believe delivery volumes will continue to grow when dining out reopens.

The weekly survey also reveals that 60% of all respondents believe hospitality venues in travel hubs will recover partially but not to pre-pandemic levels.

Among those surveyed, 69% are confident in the future of their business, down two percentage points on last week.

The Hospitality Leaders Poll is a conducted by Lumina Intelligence on behalf of BigHospitality, MCA and the Morning Advertiser.