Holiday Accommodation: Coronavirus

(asked on 2nd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is available for small businesses in the holiday lets sector who have been unable to continue their businesses due to the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic on customers (1) travelling to, or (2) hiring, accommodation and who (a) have lost income from hire charges for holiday lets, or (b) need to return deposits in order to comply with the advice from the Competition and Markets Authority.


Answered by
Baroness Barran Portrait
Baroness Barran
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This question was answered on 10th June 2020

We recognise that COVID-19 has significantly impacted many holiday accommodation businesses. We continue to engage with holiday rentals stakeholders to assess how we can most effectively support the sector through this crisis.

Holiday lets businesses can access the Government’s comprehensive economic support package. This includes the recently extended the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, VAT payment deferrals for firms and various loan schemes. In particular, the Bounce Back Loan Scheme helps small businesses access loans of up to £50,000, with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders.

We have also allocated additional funding to Local Authorities in England in the form of a discretionary grant fund of up to £617m. This is aimed at certain small businesses who were not eligible for the existing business grants fund schemes.

We understand the significant disruption and personal impact that results from the cancellation of holiday and travel bookings and we will continue working with businesses, consumers and everyone concerned.

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