Nowhere has the economic impact of the pandemic fallen more heavily than on the hospitality industry. Given this sector’s significance to the global economy, it must remain a priority, with resources allocated accordingly. Anheuser-Busch InBev (“AB InBev”) has worked closely with businesses in the hospitality sector for years, particularly with its many vulnerable small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), giving it valuable insights into how to protect them during crises.

Here are some critical steps to ensuring hospitality SMEs survive COVID-19:

1. Do No More Harm: Future measures must not increase the burden on the vulnerable.
2. Foster a Predictable Business Environment: Governments need to provide clarity and predictability regarding future expectations to enable businesses to avoid the “yo-yo” situation of spending money to reopen, then being forced to close again.
3. Implement a Tactical Approach to Recovery: Governments should take steps to optimize the hospitality sector’s reopening while avoiding high COVID-19 risk, such as preventing closures or evictions through rent subsidies, providing tax credits to the most vulnerable SMEs, or assisting SMEs with moving into viable forms of e-commerce.
4. Encourage Inter-industry Collaboration: The sector will have to develop a supportive ecosystem that draws on governments, private enterprise, and multilateral organizations. Public-private partnerships can also encourage the sector’s regrowth, as consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies play a critical role in the industry. Their connections with local formal and informal business should be used to support SMEs.

Read the full article.

JOIN OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

Remain an expert and save time ? Take few seconds to complete the registration form. Click here !