Spain’s bars, restaurants and hotels demand Government ‘Marshall Plan’ to help reactivate hard-hit hospitality sector

SPAIN’S bar and restaurant owners and hoteliers have called on the government for a ‘Marshall Plan’ to help reactivate the hospitality sector, which has been particularly hard-hit by the coronavirus crisis and the lockdown.

Under the umbrella of the Hosteleria de España association, hospitality and hotel trade business groups around the country have today Thursday presented to their provincial government delegations a document in which they demand a series of measures.

Referring to the national administration’s weekend announcements that national tourism will restart at the end of June and international tourism in July, the sector insists “it is necessary to design promotional campaigns to reactivate tourism consumption,” as other European countries have done.

Such campaigns should, Hosteleria de España says, be accompanied by campaigns to give consumers confidence in establishments in terms of risk from coronavirus infection.

They also asked the government for clarity and transparency to allow for planning the different phases of reopening, with information on details released in good time so businesses have time to adjust to make decisions.

A further request to set the safe interpersonal distance as the criteria for determining establishments’ maximum capacity, which again, they stress, is what has been done in other European nations.

In terms of financial matters, the businesses want to see the creation of a negotiating table between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s executive and the sector to define the flexibility of ERTE temporary suspensions of job contracts.

They have also asked for the establishment of micro-credits, new lines of financing, the suspension of payments on the rental of premises during the State of Alarm, extensions on mortgage payments and for a reduction in VAT.

Some of Spain’s most famous chefs have joined the joint action campaign and some of the country’s top restaurants have a table ‘reserved for dialogue’ with the government as a symbol of their demands for action.