Scottish hospitality bodies request ‘urgent call’ with Nicola Sturgeon

Scottish tourism and hospitality bodies are teaming up to request an “urgent call” with the country’s first minister.

The Scottish Tourism Alliance and UKHospitality have written to Nicola Sturgeon to discuss with her the impact of Glasgow remaining in Level 3 Covid-19 restrictions.

Prior to last week, hospitality establishments in the city were expecting to be able to serve alcoholic beverages indoors and open with an increased capacity from 17 May, however this was postponed due to the prominence of the Indian variant among Glasgow’s population.

The letter calls for further support for hospitality staff, a review of the travel ban going in and out Glasgow, and a timescale for updates.

In the letter, both organisations said: “While I imagine the decision to keep Glasgow at Level 3 … will have been a hugely challenging one for government in terms of balancing the public health crisis against the urgent need for businesses within all sectors to be trading as viably as possible, this has thrown a significant part of our industry and indeed the supply chain back into crisis mode and the mental health, resilience and commercial viability of the sector are of considerable concern.”