In the absence of a Christmas campaign that will be the weakest in history, the hospitality sector, which accounts for 6.5% of GDP,

plans to close the year with losses of more than 60,000 million

(50% of its turnover), which that will put more than a million jobs at risk.

Business closings number in the tens of thousands.

If at the end of 2019 there were 315,940 establishments, the pandemic has made 85,000 disappear

in less than a year, although the figure could reach 100,000 this 2020 (one of ca

gives three) if the aid plan that the Government promised two months ago but is delaying does not arrive.

The worst part is taken by the bars,

which account for almost 60% of all catering establishments (hotels are excluded).

If in the last decade in Spain more than 20,000 bars have been closed (at the end of 2019 there were 181,230), now they could disappear, suddenly and in just one year, about another 50,000.

In 12 months we have doubled the bankruptcies of a whole decade.

Are

«These micro and family businesses are the most vulnerable to this crisis

», Said yesterday Emilio Gallego, Secretary General of Hospitality of Spain, an association that represents more than 300,000 establishments throughout the country. Yesterday they presented their 2019 yearbook. That year the turnover, the number of establishments and jobs grew.

In fact, the sector is one year after having doubled the employment of a decade ago. Today there are 1.7 million workers, of which one million are at risk.

Some 400,000 are in the ERTE situation, either full or part time.

“It is difficult for a sector that is going to bill half to be able to maintain its workforce.

There will be a rearrangement of them, "warned José Luis Yzuel, president of the aforementioned organization.

Aid plan

After the forced closure of the premises during the first wave, many have stayed by the wayside, others have not yet opened and some 15,000 are on the verge of bankruptcy.

«

The need for an urgent aid plan is evident.

It is surprising that two months after the government announced it, we still don't know what it consists of, "criticizes Yzuel. The plan should have been presented yesterday, but it has been delayed again and its approval is expected next week.

The sector already doubts it, taking into account that each week is postponed to the next.

Reyes Maroto said last Thursday that it would be approved before the end of the year: for this there are still two councils of ministers.

The sector criticizes that "this aid plan was needed yesterday."

It is a particularly vulnerable area of ​​activity, because

around 90% (298,000) are family businesses, without employees

or with, at most, a couple of employees.

Only 4.6% are SMEs or companies with more muscle.

They number just over 17,000. The industry trusts that

the turning point in this crisis occurs at Easter,

Although this will depend on the evolution of the pandemic (if there is a third wave with new restrictions), on the vaccine, the type of aid that is given, if it is finally approved ...

future

Teleworking, the fact that many people are moving to less central areas, and the increase in delivery (food delivery) will change the hospitality structure of cities, as we know it today.

There is no more to see, for example, the number of closed premises than on Madrid's Gran Vía.

"

Their location zones will change, in part due to teleworking,

and those that were more important before will lose weight, "said Gallego. In the best scenario, a return to activity at pre-crisis levels is expected by summer.

By then the pandemic will have definitively wiped out one in three businesses

and "the demand will be concentrated in those who survive." In a more negative scenario, without consumer confidence, with an aggressive third wave and the disappearance of more businesses, there would be falls of more than 50%, in the hotel sector and in the said areas and there will be no recovery before the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022. The evolution and effectiveness of the vaccine will be decisive and "will condition these scenarios."

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