Christmas bookings hope, as Omicron declared ‘mild’

Pubs and bars received a much-needed boost this week, following the World Health Organisation (WHO) announcement that cases of the Covid-19 variant Omicron appear to be ‘mild’.

Anecdotal evidence gathered by the hospitality industry since the variant emerged a week ago suggests there were cancellations in direct response to Omicron’s emergence.

However, according to UKHospitality, the British Institute of Innkeeping and the British Beer & Pub Association, latest feedback from operators points to a slowing of cancellations, with many people determined to go ahead with parties.

The slow-down in cancellations is small comfort for hospitality, after latest figures revealed that the sector has been hit by a 30% slump in Christmas bookings even before the emergence of Omicron.

A recent survey of hundreds of hospitality operators, representing tens of thousands of venues, reveals bookings for the festive period were down 12.4% on average based on expectations from 2019, while 56% of respondents said bookings were below what they had hoped. Alarmingly, 22% of those polled in the survey said that, even prior to Omicron, festive bookings were more than 30% below expectations.

Reflecting this, operators in the sector are losing confidence. A new survey of business leaders in the sector shows confidence levels in the market have fallen 7 percentage points to 51% in this quarter versus Q3 and are down by 16 percentage points to 54% when it comes to their own businesses.

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