The fact that Hospitality Ulster’s latest members survey found that 27% of operators in Northern Ireland are now operating at a loss and 20% are merely breaking even has not come as a surprise to anyone in our offices.

For a long time now, we have been warning that the cost of operating is simply too much for Northern Ireland’s hospitality sector and that the sector will suffer significant, irreversible damage unless government support lifts the boot off our necks.

How does the Executive expect to deliver their Programme for Government plan to double tourism in the next 10 years without the policies in place to deliver it?

Put simply, hospitality accounts for four out of every five jobs in tourism and takes two thirds of the tourism spend. You can’t double tourism whilst you allow the hospitality sector to fail.

The UK Government and Stormont Executive must act urgently. The UK Spending Review in June featured within it significant funding for upskilling and apprenticeships, which is always to be supported.

But the hospitality industry has long been making the case that we could invest in our own specific upskilling needs if the Apprenticeship Levy was done away with. The levy requires employers to contribute 0.5% of their payroll without a guarantee that the monies will be allocated to apprenticeship programmes within Northern Ireland.

The sector here has been trusted enough to co-design brilliant upskilling courses in partnership with Belfast Met and the Department for the Economy, funded by the Department. Imagine the complementary investment into the workforce that could be done if these costs were removed; who knows better what skills are needed than the people working in hospitality every day?

Instead, we’re going in the opposite direction. Some 45% of Hospitality Ulster members cancelled investment in preparation for April’s cost increases; 31% lowered spending on employee training. 35% stated that they planned to cancel investment now as a result of the increases; 20% said the same about employee training.

Our survey tells us that the most urgent asks for operators here are a VAT reduction for hospitality, the reversal of the employer national insurance contributions, and the alignment of business/non-domestic rates in devolved nations to match incoming reforms in England.

If we can tackle these issues, hospitality businesses can get back to doing what they do best: serving up the atmosphere that has made us famous worldwide and investing in the workforce that makes our offering possible.

Tourism and regional jobs are two of the main pillars of the Executive’s economic development plans, both of which relay on hospitality to deliver them.

We at the coalface are telling them that there will be no scope for operators to deliver either if conditions persist as they are. It’s time they start listening.

  • Colin Neill is chief executive of Hospitality Ulster