With restaurants finally set to open their doors next week, the Association for Catering Establishment is urging authorities to launch a second round of vouchers immediately to help re-stimulate revenue streams for the hospitality sector.

While acknowledging and applauding the efforts of health authorities and the general public with regards to the county’s rapid vaccination campaign, ACE noted that the issuing of vouchers is an “outright priority” if restaurants want to stay afloat. 

“Given the fifteen-month span of time of this pandemic has taken its toll on the income of most, an immediate cash flow injection of vouchers will once again re-stimulate revenue streams for the hospitality sector as a whole as had happened last summer,” it said in a press release.

Restaurants and snack bars will be allowed to reopen until 5pm starting from 11th May. This curfew will be extended to midnight on the 24th May along with the reopening of gyms. 

From 7th June, restaurants and snack bars will be able to accommodate six people per table, instead of four. 

However, the lobby group has cautioned that this might be too long of a timeline.

“ACE also asks that the four-cover table condition be re-extended to six people sooner, as this will restrict most reservations,” it said. 

It also appealed to the general public to avoid not showing up to reservations, noting the detrimental effect it has on a restaurant that is already restricted in terms of capacity. 

Restaurants have been closed since 5th March following a quasi-lockdown in light of rising Covid-19 numbers. Bars and clubs have been closed since October 2020 and will remain shut until June.

Lastly, the ACE also appealed for stricter enforcement on behalf of authorities in order to avoid a third shutdown, something it claims the sector will not be able to sustain. 

“While stressing on stricter enforcement, ACE also requests that common sense prevails when effecting inspections, respecting peak business hours and defining between major and minor infringements, where common sense has to prevail,” it said. 

“The sector cannot sustain any further closures, so the wrongdoers this time around have to be seriously dealt with accordingly,” it ended.

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