New York is permanently switching to outdoor dining concept during the pandemic to maintain safety and ensure hospitality jobs stay afloat. Read on to know more about this brand-new trend. By Amitha Ameen
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Ever since COVID-19 descended upon us, almost everybody has had their world turn upside down. But, the ones who were most affected were those who work in the tourism and hospitality sector. Ever since the outbreak, many of them have been out of jobs and have been struggling to make both ends meet.
To tackle this issue, New York has come up with a solution where they are planning to permanently switch from indoor to outdoor dining in the city. The city has been using outdoor dining spaces since June and is now looking at converting those places to permanent fixtures.
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“Open Restaurants was a big, bold experiment in supporting the vital industry and reimagining our public space. And it worked. We’re proud to extend and expand this effort to keep New York City the most vibrant city in the world. It’s time for a new tradition,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio while making the announcement (as reported on NDTV).
A now-temporary programme, Open Restaurants has been credited with saving more than 90,000 jobs in the hospitality industry since June. The announcement to extend the programme comes just days before indoor dining is set to resume in New York on September 30, at a 25 per cent capacity.
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Along with this programme, the Mayor added that they will also be extending ‘Open Streets’ that has resulted in 85 car-free streets and has allowed for an expansion in outdoor seating spaces in restaurants around the city (as reported on NDTV).
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