VALENCIA. In shock. This is how the Valencian hospitality was this Friday night after knowing that next Monday it will not be able to raise the blind again. Anger and helplessness hung over a sector that had worked hard in recent weeks to get everything ready for Phase 1 of the ‘de-escalation’. But finally it cannot be. The Government announced that València and its metropolitan area remain in Phase 0 and, therefore, their return to work will have to wait.
The blow has been important. According to the government’s plan of lack of confidence, it was from next Monday, May 11, that restaurants and establishments could open their terraces at 50% of their maximum capacity. Until now, that is, in Phase 0, the hospitality industry can only serve orders to take away, an unaffordable possibility for the majority of locals in Valencia who chose to wait for the next phase.
From the Federation of Hospitality of Valencia (FEHV) admitted that the Government’s decision was a “hard blow” just 48 hours after being able to open, and when significant investments have already been made in the premises in order to comply with the required sanitary measures. “This has neither head nor foot. These kinds of decisions cannot be announced 48 hours before the reopening. We are clear that health comes first, but many people had already risked opening on Monday, because they had told us so. what would happen in Valencia, even knowing that they would be at a loss. And now they say no. This is a very important setback, “says the president of the federation, Manuel Espinar.
The businessman regrets that the sector had made a great economic effort to reactivate its machinery, even though the viability of the businesses was not guaranteed. They have felt a jug of cold water. “Many businessmen had taken the people out of the ERTE to reopen, they had bought provisions and prepared the premises, assuming important investments and now everything is up in the air. How are they going to be able to face this situation? What happens now with those workers taken out? of the ERTE? How are they going to assume them? “, he criticizes.
Espinar says that “you can’t play like that with people’s money.” “I do not know where the failure is and what has happened so that València is not in Phase 1 when, from the Generalitat, it had been said that it would be like this,” he points to the appearance of the President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, this past Sunday, who assured that the Community was in a position to go to the next phase and, therefore, the hospitality industry had rearmed for it.
“We had everything ready. On the beach, 90% of businesses were going to open and now in the middle of the weekend they have to readjust their plans. Let’s see how we manage it,” he regrets. Of course, Espinar is clear that there will be many losses and if the situation continues over time, “many will stay on the road.” “We feel a lot of helplessness right now,” he concludes.
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