After moving in to Level 3 restrictions today meaning closing interiors and shorter opening hours, the hospitality industry in Gran Canaria is demanding urgent measures from the Canarian Government to rescue it from a "certain death" that will filter through to the rest of the businesses reliant on the sector and cause the "most absolute disaster” of the Canarian economy.
The sector considers itself to be "ignored, crushed, annihilated and, above all, blamed for the spread of the virus”, and at this moment when it is "mortally wounded" it wants to show "its most absolute disagreement with the measures implemented to stop Covid," they have published in a manifesto that will be distributed among those affected in the next few days.
“We are here to assert our rights and freedoms as a democratic society. It cannot be that this pandemic, that has shaken the foundations of our society and in which we are seeing thousands of people lose their lives, becomes a pretext to limit the most fundamental and inalienable right of every individual, the right to work, the right to express oneself, the right to freedom," the document also says.
Faced with this situation, the hospitality sector and by extension all the sectors that make a living from it, i.e. from suppliers of wine, single-use materials, cleaning, food distributors, farmers, entertainers, etc, are against a government that demands "responsibility" and that for ten months has been trying to solve the pandemic with "unsuccessful measures" that affect humanity, with very indirect aid dependent on third parties, an increase in taxes, Covid debt restrictions, among others, they point out.
The sector proposes measures, given that the hospitality sector has scrupulously followed the required anti-Covid guidelines and that contagions are almost non-existent:
- That they are still allowed to open inside following health guidelines.
- The expansion of the terrace capacity, and space, to continue supporting workers.
- Exemption of taxes and social security.
- Extension of the payment period of ICO loans.
- Extension of the ERTE until the economy recovers to the new normal.
- Reach agreements to reduce the payment of rents, saying “if we are taking 20% of normal turnover, we cannot pay 100% rent.
- And receive direct aid to the sector at the levels of our European neighbours.
