Opinion: Let's get back to cafes and help Whanganui hospitality industry

Our hospitality industry needs us now! Photo / Getty Images

If you are immune-compromised, you will most likely prefer to stay home. If you are double vaxxed and boosted, in good health and feel well, let's meet for a coffee, lunch, afternoon tea, a cocktail or dinner. The hospitality sector in the Whanganui region really needs us!

We have the "staying home saves lives" mantra beaten into our brains and it worked during the first lockdown in 2020.

Today, in March 2022, we are in desperate need of a different call to action, and supporting our local community is a major focus.

On February 15, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the current red setting is not a lockdown and urged workers to go back to the office, just like New York City mayor Eric Adams, who implored people to return to the city.

Adams met with CEOs to urge them to end the work from home policies because only 28 per cent of workers are going into New York metro area offices. This is destroying the hospitality and related sectors (dry-cleaning, transport, retail), according to Bloomberg News. Adams added that the timeframe to act is now.

Yes, now.

Have you read about the "reactivating Tamaki Makaurau Auckland" package? It is a $12 million injection into the city by way of a free to residents' voucher or discount programme to encourage families and individuals to visit commercial attractions and council-owned facilities.

Imagine what one million dollars injected into the Whanganui hospitality and retail communities would do.

I understand and appreciate the need to avoid spreading the virus amongst staff.

However, we have had two years to plan for this scenario and I believe Whanganui District Council staff and other large employers should ask staff to return to the office.

Considerations to keep staff safe could see colleagues in a variety of bubbles so that when one Covid case emerges, it does not affect the entire team. Job sharing, upskilling, part-time or full-time roles in the office will positively impact Whanganui retailers and cafes in an immediate way.

When you take personal responsibility for your own and the immune-compromised by showing your vaccine pass, scanning in, social distancing and washing your hands, why would you still not go to a cafe, a shop, or the office?

I am thinking of starting a book club in a cafe, or a walking club where stopping for a coffee is mandatory, or maybe even a knitting club where tasty treats from Honest, The Burrow, The Citadel, Mud Ducks or Ambrosia among others are enjoyed.

And come on, WDC — get your staff back into the office and allow face-to-face meetings, safely. Consider looking at what was not spent on travel and injecting the voucher system into the local economy. Your staff spend money and the shop and cafes need them right now. Yes, now.

In closing this column, I want to mention the war in Ukraine and people protesting illegally on Parliament grounds. I saw a sign held by United States poet laureate Amanda Gorman that read, "If you are not livid, you are not listening" about the war in Ukraine. This is clear and concise and you know exactly where she stands against the murder of innocent people by Russian troops.

Then while in Wellington last week, we saw a sign that read, "Sisters for Freedom" and wondered if the protesters were nuns, from a sorority or siblings. We also saw someone carrying a cross, heard about the noose hung from a tree and the swastika graffitied on a war memorial. The divergent messaging from this protesting rabble has impacted on the freedoms of Wellingtonians while brave people are losing their lives in Ukraine. These scenarios make you realise the true meaning of freedom.