The impact of inflation on UK festivals has been highlighted by event operators and trade bodies in Music Week.
Now the hospitality sector has joined forces calling for urgent action on energy prices. An open letter has highlighted “rocketing energy prices [becoming] a matter of existential emergency.”
Five organisations have written to the government: UK Hospitality, Night-Time Industries Association, Music Venue Trust, The British Institute of Innkeeping and The British Beer and Pub Association.
While consumers are facing massive increases in bills, venues and other businesses are not even covered by the energy price cap. With hospitality operators facing average annual bill increases in the region of at least 300%, businesses and jobs in the sector are at risk.
The letter sets out the urgent need for the government and the Conservative leadership contenders to outline a comprehensive support package for the sector.
Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust, said: "After two incredibly difficult years where venues have had to fight for simple survival, it would be an extraordinary outcome to see them closed and permanently lost because of an energy market that is completely out of control and not fit for purpose. The government must act to create a genuinely functioning market for energy services that can deliver supply at a reasonable cost or step in to create an affordable supply for businesses."
Michael Kill, CEO NTIA, said: "The government cannot continue to understate the escalating crisis within the energy sector. The contraction of energy suppliers is compromising the free market’s primary purpose of generating competitive rates and service levels. Limited competition has resulted in energy tariffs that are already unsustainable, and without the government's intervention, businesses who have survived the pandemic, supported by public funding, will face further uncertainty, and in many cases, permanent closure."
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