The past few months have been special and often unpredictable. Last minute bookings and last minute cancellations and on top of that the mood of the virologists, media… and the weather forecasts.
The impact of coronavirus and the government measures for the hospitality sector are unprecedented and painful for many businesses.
We are with our customers in hospitality, who are having the best months ever and these are really exceptions, for others the damage was limited, but for a lot of businesses it's nail biting and hoping that the nightmare will soon be over. Although we are all aware that the coming winter period will be particularly difficult for the entire sector.
Given that more than 95% of our clientele is the hospitality industry, we feel first-hand what our customers are going through. The recent resurgence in the number of infections means that the preventive measures will not be relaxed any time soon, and the limits on the number of contacts continues to be disastrous for the hospitality sector.
Parties and group travel with more than 10 are virtually impossible at the moment. Seminars and international tourism will probably only be resumed cautiously in mid-2021. In the short term, we will therefore have to rely mainly on Belgian tourists.
Despite this uncertain future, we must above all have the courage to look beyond the here and now.
We all have to move forward, no matter how difficult it is.
In March, the construction works of our expansion were due to start, but we then decided to put this investment on hold. But in recent months, we have decided to start the works anyway.
'Every economics course says: in times of crisis, you have to invest.'
At Cailliau, we want to be ready for the post-corona era. The current crisis will boost coastal tourism and the Westhoek in the longer term.
To give more publicity to our construction work, a first laying of the stone was organized on Friday, in the presence of some prominent guests: Mayor of Ypres Emmily Talpe, VOKA Director West Flanders Bert Mons and Provincial Governor West Flanders Carl Decaluwé.
