Bed and Breakfast, Guest House and Guest Accommodation Scheme

The Economy Minister has launched a £4 million scheme to support tourist accommodation businesses severely impacted through reduced income due to COVID-19.

This scheme is currently only accepting applications from businesses categorised as hostels and bunk houses. 

The Bed and Breakfast, Guest House and Guest Accommodation Scheme will support around 900 providers to continue to deliver much needed tourist accommodation in 2021 and beyond.

The scheme, which will be administered by Tourism NI, will provide grant to support eligible businesses on a flat per room amount plus a percentage of 2019’s turnover. The inclusion of turnover gives some recognition to business performance. The maximum grant any one business can receive will be capped at £12,500.

Eligibility Criteria

Tourist accommodation providers meeting the following criteria will be eligible for the Bed and Breakfast, Guest House and Guest Accommodation Scheme:

  • the tourism accommodation provider must be compliant with the Tourism (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 and have received certification from Tourism NI;
  • the accommodation was certified by Tourism NI and operational on or before 23 March 2020;
  • the accommodation has an active listing on the Tourism NI consumer website as at 1 April 2020;
  • the accommodation adheres to the various regulations applicable to tourism accommodation including but not limited to the following – fire safety regulations, liquor licensing laws, package holiday regulation and food hygiene etc;
  • the accommodation is fully tax compliant (registered with HMRC and all relevant tax filing with HMRC are up to date) on the date of application;
  • the tourist accommodation provider was viable prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and has taken all reasonable steps to safeguard the viability of the business.

Support received under previous grant schemes will be considered in calculating the level of grant under this scheme. For example, a business which received the £10,000 Small Business Support Grant would only be able to access £2,500 under the Tourism NI Scheme. Businesses that received funding as part of the £25,000 Retail, Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Scheme will be excluded from the Tourism NI scheme.

Applications

This scheme is now closed.

 

This page was last updated 24 February 2021

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