Restaurant closures will be a "fatal blow" for many businesses, hospitality assoc. says

Reports of the government's plans to close catering establishments, suspend sports, and limit public transit as part of a final push to curb the spread of the coronavirus before placing the country in another lockdown, were met with mixed reactions. The 25 mayors that head the Netherlands' security regions support the plans. Hospitality association KHN is firmly against.

Henri Lenferink, mayor of Leiden and temporary chair of the council for the security regions, said to ANP that the mayors unanimously support the package of measures presented to them on Monday, though he would neither confirm nor deny reports on what those measures are.

"We hope that this package will help us to break through the negative series of numbers," he said to the news wire. He called the measures "painful for everyone".

The government's plans to close catering establishments will be the "fatal blow" for many entrepreneurs, Dirk Beljaarts, director of hospitality association KHN, said to NOS after reports that the government plans to either close catering businesses completely, or limit their opening times to 6:00 p.m.

"No perspective is given. Many entrepreneurs are already thinking of throwing in the towel," Beljaarts said to the broadcaster. "It is strange that there is no further substantiation and that there is such a severe intervention in a sector that is already looking into the abyss."

Beljaarts also complained that the KHN was not involved in making this decision. "We never received a response from the cabinet to our letters,' he said. "No one who has the decency to pick up the phone and inform us. Never mind getting us involved." If the government wants the sector to survive, he said, "100 percent compensation is needed until things return to normal".