According to the Chamber of Commerce, the impact of the pandemic is already being felt, and if the measures do not soon dissipate, they will most likely be worse. “The number of interrupted trades is growing, self-employed people are getting a job, companies are starting to do business in other fields, for example,” said Karina Kubelková, chief analyst of the Chamber of Commerce.
Restaurants and hotels
According to the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic (AHR CR), if restaurants and hotels do not open by the end of May, there is a risk that up to 40 percent of them will go bankrupt.
“The decline is dramatic. The worst part is that we do not know when we will open if someone will not limit our capacity to 25 percent,” explained Václav Stárek from the AHR CR.
“In order to be able to survive at least in a very crisis regime, we had to turn off the electricity, because we have no income,” said the owner of the bar Dominik Žitný.
“I think we could have problems at the end of the year. The situation would start to be really exciting for us,” said the director of the Olympik hotel, Vlastislav Šos.
Gyms
“Unfortunately, state compensation does not help them either, we know from surveys that state compensation will cover only 20 percent of costs and the rest is for fitness centers.
Fitness centers and indoor sports grounds have been closed since October, and according to their operators, most of them are facing existential problems.
“We are losing revenues from the most productive months. We can last until the end of May this year, then it will probably not work,” said the owner of the fitness center Pavel Přeček.
According to representatives of gyms, a third of operators will last about a month. About 40 percent of operators are said to be able to close for more than three months.
Laundries and dry cleaners
Laundries and dry cleaners, which have lost most customers due to the pandemic, also face problems. “Most of our members are massively affected by the decline. Revenues have fallen by 80 to 90 percent. Because neither restaurants, nor hotels, nor retail work,” said Jana Puškáčová from the Association of Laundries and Dry Cleaners.
“The laundries are now fed only by hospitals and pension facilities. The drop in orders is enormous and we are trying to bridge every month,” said Miroslav Malina, the laundry’s managing director.
Conferences and exhibitions
Agencies organizing conferences, for example, also face problems. In addition to financial losses, however, they are mainly concerned about the loss of employees who, due to lack of work, move to other fields.
“Financial difficulties are a common thing in our field. Another thing is the return of professionals back to the field as soon as it starts to open,” said Vít Rozehnal of the Czech Event Association (CEA).
According to the government’s dismantling packages, the establishments could reopen by the end of May. But it will depend on the epidemic situation.
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