Coronavirus: Guidance for pubs and hotels published

Updated guidance has been published on how hotels, pubs and other businesses in Northern Ireland can reopen safely from 3 July.

It includes advice to reconfigure seating, stagger arrivals and encourage use of outdoor areas.

Customers will be urged order online or through apps where possible.

It comes after the announcement by the Northern Ireland Executive last week that hospitality businesses can open sooner than originally planned.

Economy Minister Diane Dodds said the application of social distancing and hand hygiene practices remained vital.

"We must ensure the transmission of the virus is minimised and we need to reassure customers, employees and visitors that establishments are as Covid-19 safe as possible," she said.

"It is the responsibility of businesses to read and apply the guidance.

"It is also the responsibility on all of us as visitors and customers to play our part in tackling the pandemic and to behave responsibly."

Businesses will be required to translate the guidance into specific actions, depending on the nature, size and type of their operations.

The guidance is based largely on UK government guidelines and has been tailored for Northern Ireland by the Department for the Economy and Tourism NI in consultation with industry representatives.

The guidance comes after a report found that Northern Ireland's economy was likely to suffer from the impact of the pandemic for longer than other parts of the UK.

Think tank Pivotal says this was because the local economy already had problems, including:

The report calls on the executive to address structural weaknesses in the economy.

"This cannot be left to the Department for the Economy," said director Ann Watt.

"The executive as a whole, across all parties, needs to come together and build a Northern Ireland that is fit for the future."

This downturn will hit some groups harder than others, particularly young people and those in lower-income households, says the report.

It recommends the government invests more heavily in education and training, green spaces, infrastructure and broadband.

On education, the report says almost half the total workers in Northern Ireland either placed on furlough or laid off have a highest qualification equivalent to GCSE.

It is proposing the idea of an educational recovery plan, which would include a national teaching support service to "level-up" the educational loss some children will have experienced in lockdown.

Meanwhile the employers organisation, the CBI, has written to the first and deputy first ministers urging them to make jobs and training for young people their top priority.

It is calling for a ring-fenced skills fund and a greater role for Jobs and Benefits offices to direct people into training posts.

It also suggests that employers should be allowed to use the Apprenticeship Levy to help pay apprentices.

It says "dynamic markets will over time create new jobs, but smart, fast policy is needed now to accelerate the process and minimise the human cost".

The organisation is also calling for investment in green infrastructure such as insulating houses and accelerated the roll-out of electric car charging points.

It suggests the UK could complement this with a car scrappage scheme aimed at increasing the uptake of electric vehicles.