Ahead of May's general election, the British Hospitality Association (BHA) has prepared a manifesto of its own outlining what it would like to see a future government doing for the hospitality industry.
Representing more than 40,000 member establishments which between them employ around 500,000 people and turn over £20bn a year, the BHA points out that recent years have seen a big increase in both regulation and bureaucracy which it believes 'risks stifling innovation and customer service and costs small businesses too much time and money to understand and implement'.
Its five main requirements of whichever party takes control after the election are lead by a commitment to take hospitality and tourism seriously. It says that since the industry is affected by the actions of almost every government department, it wants to see the Department for Culture, Media and Sport - if it retains responsibility for the industry - to act as an effective communicator with those departments when new regulations are being discussed.
Also important is support for investment, with the BHA viewing the Treasury's withdrawal of Hotel Buildings Allowance and the introduction of an 'unsatisfactory' new capital allowances scheme as being particularly damaging. It wishes to see changes to make capital allowances better suited to new hotel development and the introduction of Tourist Growth Zones in resorts with tax incentives to help with regeneration.
Support for both training and marketing are also required, with the current system of funding for college courses and apprentices being described as a 'mess'. The BHA considers that a more consistent approach to funding is needed - instead of 'cuts and constant changes' - along with tax breaks to encourage businesses to train their staff.
The special nature of tourism marketing funding also needs to be recognised, with - the BHA says - the outlay of public funds being more than repaid by the taxes paid by the additional visitors. It also believes that a complete structural review by government is required, following what it calls the disintegration over recent years of the tourist board structure in England and the variable performance of Regional Development Agencies in handling their tourism responsibilities.
Support for jobs is seen as vital. The 'manifesto' points out that the hospitality industry is a major provider of new jobs and plays a significant role in offering entry-level employment and that the proposed increases in National Insurance present a real risk of destroying many of these opportunities.
Elsewhere, the various attempts to impose additional labelling regulations on menus in restaurants come in for criticism, being something the BHA says 'makes an evening out an exercise in red tape'. It wants the Food Standards Agency and the European Commission to adopt a more pragmatic course in relation to nutrition and other information on menus.
Finally, on the subject of alcohol and its associated anti-social incidents and health problems, the BHA says - in the wake of new mandatory conditions on licences and a proposed Social Responsibility Levy in Scotland - that hotels and restaurants 'are not the source of the problem and should not be part of any 'collective punishment''.
