Reopening of restaurants, hotels and bars: the three-step plan proposed by the government

The plan to reopen restaurants, hotels and bars is becoming clearer.

During a videoconference with representatives of the catering sector, several members of the government detailed the strategy they intended to put in place to begin the resumption of activity in the sector.

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Concretely, the Minister in charge of Small and Medium Enterprises Alain Griset, the Secretary of State for Digital Cédric O, the Secretary of State in charge of Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne and Laurent Pietraszewski (who represented Élisabeth Borne, positive for the coronavirus) proposed to restaurateurs a reopening in three phases.

Each would last four weeks.

A three-step plan

The first phase will allow hoteliers to serve breakfast to their customers.

"

We argued that in this context, it would also be logical to allow them to serve dinner, by setting a welcome gauge

 ", explains Jean-Virgile Crance, president of the GNC (National Group of Hotel Chains) -UMIH .

The government has also specified that the outdoor swimming pools of hotels could reopen at the same time.

The second phase would consist of reopening restaurants and bars - but with a reception capacity of 50% of available places.

These restrictions do not exist, however, for terraces.

In hotels, indoor swimming pools would have the possibility of reopening.

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The third phase, finally, would devote a return to a more normal activity for restaurants and bars with a resumption of activity at their (almost) maximum capacity.

Because in the second as in the third phase, the establishments will have to enforce the sanitary protocol which was in force before their closure, with a limit of six guests per table and a minimum distance of one meter between the tables.

The government has not yet specified the potential trigger date for this reopening plan.

On the other hand, he affirmed that a "

notice period

" would be taken into account

 for restaurateurs.

They will therefore be notified of their reopening date three weeks in advance, in order to have time to prepare for the resumption.

The government has also specified that this plan launch date would depend on two criteria: the vaccination rate of the population and the number of daily cases.

On the other hand, no quantified threshold has been communicated to the representatives of the profession.

QR Code required

Access to restaurants, it is confirmed, will be conditioned on scanning by customers of a QR Code which will be displayed in their establishments and which will allow consumers to be warned if they are in contact following their visit to the restaurant. hotel, bar or restaurant.

The idea of ​​a "

health pass

 ", which would give access to establishments only to vaccinated people, was however rejected at this stage.

On the other hand, a reflection is underway at European level on the subject.

Jean-Virgile Crance is satisfied with a device that he considers “

reassuring

 ” for customers.

"

If all goes well when the hotels are taken over, customers will have more confidence to go to the restaurant or the bar afterwards,

 " he said.

Read also: Restaurants: no reopening date, but a protocol that is becoming clearer

Nightlife establishments - nightclubs in particular - are not included in the take-back plan at this stage.

On the other hand, the government asked professionals in the sector to make proposals, by the end of March, as to the health protocol that could be put in place.