Departing Dirk Beljaarts (KHN): 'Hospitality industry suffered unnecessarily due to third lockdown'

He was the face of the hospitality sector during corona: KHN chairman Dirk Beljaarts. On the eve of his departure, he speaks one last time about the "painful corona years" and its aftermath for the hospitality industry. "If you ban someone from doing business, you have to compensate 100 per cent."

It was supposed to be a quiet job, but it became the most challenging and turbulent in his working life. Dryly, Dirk Beljaarts says he only had one normal year as general manager of Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN). ,,It was business as usual, then the corona pandemic broke out in early 2020. At first, I thought 'a few weeks of pain', but it turned into two very painful years, no one would have thought. I am definitely not going to miss it and am glad it is May 2024."

In a resolute voice, he said: ,,Absolutely. I had resolved to shake off the bureaucratic image of KHN. We had to start speaking more the language of entrepreneurs, and we succeeded. It is a world of difference if you see how we communicate now and how we did 9 years ago. Before then, some hospitality entrepreneurs had the idea: the team in Woerden is stuffy and officious. Partly because of corona, we did manage to show something different."

Beljaarts' smartphone is filled with 06 numbers of all ministers, state secretaries, members of parliament and top officials who deal with the hospitality industry in any way. KHN is a powerhouse of a lobbying and advocacy organisation with around 20,000 members. From the first lockdown on 15 March 2020 to the last on 19 December 2021, those numbers proved necessary, for example, to better arrange support packages. "I could directly put my foot down with Mona Keijzer (State Secretary for Economic Affairs for CDA) or Ferd Grapperhaus (Minister of Justice for CDA), among others. During the corona period, those contacts were very intensive. I sometimes had a particular minister on the phone four times in one evening."

During that period, he operated alongside Rotterdam-based hospitality entrepreneur and chairman of KHN Robèr Willemsen sometimes in a kind of good cop, bad cop method. ''Together, we usually worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week. I had never worked so hard in my life. It depended on the subject or the interlocutor who was the good cop or the bad cop. In politics, we were very conscious of that."

What Beljaarts could not have imagined when he started this job that he had contact with the police during the corona period. ,,It was not only an attack on my private life, but I also had to deal with threats. The latter I found very nasty, I have no other word for it. I contacted the police about those threats. In consultation, I eventually decided not to file charges."

''No, not on Van Dissel, but on the cabinet. We were the only country in Europe to lock in just before Christmas 2021 with an ill-founded argument. Why did we have to do this, for that one per cent contamination? It was unseemly what the cabinet (Rutte III, ed.) did and as a result, many hospitality entrepreneurs suffered unnecessarily."

''I am still of the opinion, if from a government perspective you shut someone's front door and prohibit them from doing business, you should also compensate 100 per cent. No, calling at that third lockdown made no sense. It was clinched within the coalition and everyone was holding hands with each other."

What struck the outgoing foreman was how little insight ministers and the civil service actually had about his hospitality sector in times of crisis. ''It worried me that they had no idea what is actually happening in the sector and what we need. It gave me insight that fairly little is known about how our sector really works. However, these are the same ministers and civil servants who spend the other 364 days of the year also working to make our country better. I have seen up close that the correct and complete information was not always there to really oversee everything and what you then bring upon yourself. As KHN, we therefore did a lot of research ourselves to be able to argue to officials that, for example, the financial support was not enough. Which also resulted in better and better support packages."

Beljaarts waits a moment, reflects and gives a cautious answer: ,,The Netherlands BV has been 'bullied' in recent years, often to find cover for expenses. With the possible arrival of a business cabinet, there may be people from the field with practical knowledge and experience, which is good. I hope a new government will have more appreciation for SMEs and large enterprises, which is really insufficient now. SMEs are the largest employer in the Netherlands."

During years that corona proliferated, Beljaarts learned to "stay close to himself". ''Don't lie, come up with one story and stick to it. I spoke to many entrepreneurs every day. So the story we told was the real story. We did not have to squirm; I will definitely continue to use this experience."