The success of the initiative could provide a format for the hospitality and tourism industries to survive the pandemic and social distancing.
An Amsterdam restaurant called Mediamatic that can serve customers while respecting social distancing measures in what looks like an outdoor garden is already fully booked until the end of June.
This development highlights many issues facing the hospitality and tourism industry as it attempts to advance into the post-coronavirus business era.
In recent months, social distancing and other measures taken by national governments and private companies have hit some businesses hard. In particular, they forced restaurants, hotels, bars and many other industries to close in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.
According to a study conducted by scientists from the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University, published in the journal Science, some form of social distancing may be needed until 2022. We could see measures of social distancing throughout 2020, and perhaps beyond.
This means that business owners, managers and servers in industries that rely on face-to-face interaction must find ways to work.
In the photos you see groups of customers inside glass warehouses. They rest delicately on a stone patio covered in vegetation, beneath which is a canal.
A “new normal” restaurant
The waiter dresses as always, with the addition of a mask and gloves to ensure that his short time in direct proximity to his customers minimizes the risk of mutual contamination. Each unit appears to have a pocket door. There is a number on the door showing the guest units in the “dining cabin”.
Of course, nothing is absolutely foolproof. Especially against coronavirus contamination. This however could be one of the ways of providing meaningful experiences to people.
