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On-trade fears ‘Covid passports’ could cause 25% drop in profit

Published:  13 April, 2021

On-trade businesses fear that Covid Status Certification (CSC), also referred to as ‘Covid passports’, will slash profits by a quarter, according to a snap survey carried out by UK Hospitality (UKH).

The trade body said the survey of its members, for which it received responses from 110 businesses which collectively run 8,400 venues, showed a belief that CSC would see costs rise by 15.7%. 

Moreover, it found that CSC would cause revenues to fall by 9.4%, a drop in profitability of 25% compared to 2019.

Linking Covid passports to a return to normal trading would both “set our recovery back and renege on the roadmap as set out”, said Kate Nicholls, CEO, UKH.

“Hospitality has suffered enormously under Covid and is now slowly returning to trading. A clear path to the falling away of social distancing on 21 June was set out by the government. It is vital that, Covid test criteria permitting, that commitment is honoured, if we are to avoid further devastation to the sector,” she said.

Enforced checking at entry risked the potential for “unsavoury incidents” where customers may, for example, not have their Covid passport with them, or are ethically opposed to the whole idea – “it shouldn’t be our staff who bear the brunt”, she added.

“At a time when we need to rebuild consumer confidence, it would be hugely unhelpful – as well as a significant cost burden for businesses – for venues that are unused to having security staff at their entrances, to have to do so,” said Nicholls. 

Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s mention that a vaccine passport scheme was a possibility last month, UKH cautioned that a voluntary scheme would create “confusion and inequality” among businesses, customers and staff and would act as a de-facto open ended delay to the reopening process.

In addition, UKH also opposed the introduction of a mandatory passport scheme, saying it would be “unworkable, cause conflict and could be counter to equality rules”.