Advice

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Advice

We’re closely monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation as it develops to ensure that we are in the best position to support Wiltshire tourism businesses and ascertain where support is needed, which will be fed back to VisitBritain and the Government’s Tourism Industry Emergency Response Group. VisitWiltshire are here to support businesses, offer 1:1 advice so please let us know if you need anything.

As standard, businesses and visitors alike should follow all current government guidance to minimise the spread of the virus and protect the safety and welfare of vulnerable individuals. This page will continue to be updated as new information is made available so that you have access to the latest advice.

VisitBritain COVID-19 - Latest Information & Guidance for tourism businesses

Please see the latest information & guidance provided by VisitBritain for UK tourism businesses https://www.visitbritain.org/covid-19-new-coronavirus-latest-information-and-advice-for-businesses
 

The Government office have set up website to ensure you have up to date access to COVID-19 business support and which hosts all the details of the schemes the Chancellor has announced. 

https://www.businesssupport.gov.uk/coronavirus-business-support/

Governments COVID-19 Support Packages for businesses, please see here.

DCMS have released some guidelines for accommadation busiens during the COVID-19 outbreak. You can see the details of these guidelines here. 

On 17 March the Government has announced a £330 billion financial rescue package to support and protect businesses affected by COVID-19, including those in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. This includes:

- £330 billion of government-backed loans and guarantees that will be available from next week;
- A package of support for airports and airlines to be announced soon;
- For the hospitality and leisure sector there will be a business rates holiday and a £25k cash grant per retail and leisure business for those without specific pandemic insurance;
- Stated Government actions are sufficient to trigger payments for those businesses with pandemic insurance.
- There will also be strengthened support for people -in addition to the measures in the budget, mortgage lenders will offer a three-month "mortgage holiday" for those in financial difficulty due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
- All retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England will receive a 100% business rates holiday for the next 12 months.
- Increase in grants to small businesses eligible for Small Business Rate Relief from £3,000 to £10,000.
- Further £25,000 grants to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses operating from smaller premises, with a rateable value over £15,000 and below £51,000.
- Confirmation that government advice to avoid pubs, clubs and theatres etc. is sufficient for businesses to claim on their insurance where they have appropriate business interruption cover for pandemics in place.
- Relaxation in planning regulations to allow pubs and restaurants to start providing takeaways without a planning application.
- Support for liquidity amongst large firms, with a major new scheme being launched by the Bank of England to help them bridge COVID-19 disruption to their cash flows through loans.
- Increasing the amount businesses can borrow through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme from £1.2 million to £5 million, and ensuring businesses can access the first 6 months of that finance interest free, as Government will cover the first 6 months of interest payments.
- The bank of England scheme and business interruption loan scheme will be available from the beginning of next week.

Alongside our efforts to provide advice and support during this difficult time, we're proactively tracking the effects of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Wiltshire tourism businesses. We have been working with VisitBritain, DCMS and the Tourism Industry Emergency Response Group and are keen to know how, and to what extent, the COVID-19 virus is impacting businesses.

Please could take a few minutes to complete this survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2R3J3ZM

We will continue to provide this data to VisitBritain and the Government’s Tourism Industry Emergency Response Group to monitor the impact on tourism from the coronavirus, and to highlight where business support is needed. Your responses will be treated as confidential and we appreciate your support.

We’ll continue to monitor the situation and we will update you as and when we receive new information. If you have any questions in the meantime please don’t hesitate to contact us.

COVID-19 – Impact on Business Survey Summary

75 Wiltshire tourism businesses responded to our business survey on Tuesday 17 March.  This means responses were given before the latest restriction announcements.  Main points were:

• Most Wiltshire ticketed attractions are now closed or will be closing shortly. 
• B&Bs are all reporting devastating cancellations and very few forward bookings for the rest of the year.   
• 57% of hotels are reporting cancellations of between 30% - 90%, 42% are reporting up to 30% cancellations.
• 99% of food and drink businesses said they have lost revenue.
• The majority (65%) of lost business reported is due to cancellations rather than postponements.
• 65% of cancellations (all sectors) are for business in March, 75% April, 45% May, 37% June, 22% July, 9% August.  
• Forward bookings for accommodation providers are down 93% for March, 94% April, 47% May, 40% June, 13% July
• Businesses reported that most forward cancellations are from the domestic market (-85%), North America (-30%), western Europe (-23%) and Australia/New Zealand (-18%)
• 50% of businesses reported that their insurance companies wont cover any of the losses with 34% unsure
• The main issues and requests for support we’ve had highlighted to us so far are legal advice about insurance and cancellations, recovery campaign when the crisis is over, help with marketing, 1:1 business advice, cash flow problems and relief from paying business related taxes. 

Thank you to those that responded to the survey or us directly, we’ve fed this into DCMS and the Tourism Industry Emergency Response group, highlighting the level of immediate and longer-term impact and the need for further government support.

We are updating this page on a regular basis (last updated 14.00PM 23 March 2020)