After almost one year of shut downs and restricted trading, Australia’s pubs, clubs and bars have something to raise their glasses to, with a huge 41 percent surge in patron confidence.
A national survey 1 from January 2021 reveals:
● 82 percent of Australians feel confident about returning to their local pub, club or bar, compared with 58 percent in August 2020,
● Two thirds of Australians (67%) said they think about Covid-19 when out in a pub, and
● 34 percent said they would either leave a venue or ask staff for sanitiser if they don’t see any Covid-safe supplies.
The independent market research was conducted for Bundaberg Rum’s $11.5m Raising the Bar initiative, which has so far provided more than 1,300 venues across the country with free Covid-safe supplies including hand sanitiser and dispenser stations, masks, gloves, floor demarcations (stickers) and digital thermometers.
Angus McPherson, managing director at Bundaberg Rum’s parent company Diageo Australia said: “It’s encouraging to hear that two thirds of people (67%) now feel more confident visiting their local thanks to Covid safe measures like the Raising the Bar initiative being implemented across the hospitality industry.
“When we decided to make this investment, we knew that hospitality venues needed a helping hand to recover from the pandemic, to ease the cost burden of maintaining a Covid-safe environment for their staff and their patrons.”
While there’s been a significant upswing in confidence, only one in three Australians (36 per cent) are visiting the pub as frequently as before Covid-19, underlining how challenging it’s been for hospitality through the pandemic.
“Our pubs and clubs have been really doing it tough throughout the pandemic. We are determined to support them and ensure their loyal patrons feel confident that they can return to their local and socialise as safely as possible.
“Any licenced venue can apply for this support and we really encourage all hospitality venues to get involved because we want to help pubs, bars and clubs across the country emerge stronger out of this pandemic, ” McPherson said.