An extra £30m for hospitality and leisure
THE Welsh Government has announced a further £30m for hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses affected by ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
It has also confirmed that pending the outcome of the next review on March 12, a further £150m in grants could be made available to firms, including micro businesses, through the Welsh Government’s Non Domestic Rates (NDR) scheme if coronavirus restrictions are extended.
The latest round of the Welsh Government’s Economic Resilience Fund will see £30m of targeted support being made available to support small, medium and large businesses in the hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors as well as related supply chain businesses.
The funding is targeted to businesses employing ten or more staff in recognition of the relatively higher level of operating costs that these businesses face.
However, should restrictions be extended at the March 12 review, the £150m that will be made available would see businesses in the hospitality, tourism, leisure and non-essential retail sectors that pay non-domestic rates receiving an additional payment of up to £5,000 regardless of the number of employees they have.
Businesses in the hospitality, tourism and leisure sectors can now access the eligibility checker and calculator on the Business Wales website to help them work out what support they can expect to qualify for in this latest round and to understand the detail they will need to make an application.
Minister for the Economy, Transport and North Wales Ken Skates, said: “This last year has been incredibly difficult for everyone and we are aware of the significant challenges facing our fantastic hospitality, tourism and leisure sector.
“The focus of this latest £30m round of funding is to target further support at the small, medium and large businesses in these sectors with the specific aim of protecting as many jobs as possible.
“With restrictions likely to continue for a little while longer we are actively reviewing our options for providing further support.”