When will they open, Bars, restaurants and hotels in Valencia

It is the question that thousands of entrepreneurs, employees and also suppliers ask themselves throughout Spain and of course in the Valencian Community, which lives mostly from tourism: When will the hospitality open? The sector, helpless, sees how other unions are helped while silence surrounds their establishments, previously noisy and now in a solitude that economically sinks many families. The coronavirus or, rather, their economic and social effects, is surpassing them. Not only will they be the last to open, but they will also pay for the crisis. It is true that on the one hand there will be more desire than ever to return to normality, to consume, to eat and dine away from home, to enjoy in restaurants, bars and nightclubs. But the hoteliers also fear suspicion, fear that the locals are a new source of contagion and, even that the capacity is reduced, which will be a problem for all types of establishments.

Closed since last March 13, During this confinement, only those bars or restaurants that serve food delivery are still in operation. The rest are still closed since the Government of Spain decreed the State of Alarm ago more than a month.

Protocols by sectors in Valencia

In this sense, the presidents of the Chambers of Commerce of Alicante, Alcoy, Castellón, Orihuela and Valencia have held a videoconference with the Regional Secretary for Tourism, Francesc Colomer, to analyze and coordinate measures and aids for the tourism sector, one of the most affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Colomer has proposed that protocols adapted to each tourism sector and subsector be worked on and explained that, “For example, playing golf is different from a concert.”

The opening date would involve various factors and not all establishments would function the same. The size will matter at the time of opening before or after and strict hygiene measures, capacity and distance between the people who are inside must be taken.

For this reason, it has stressed that “when the situation becomes normal, each sector must adapt with its prophylactic, prevention and protection measures, with protocols that vary from one subsector to another.” “My proposal is that, in collaboration with Public Health, Let’s work on our own protocols for each subsector – accommodation, restaurants, bars, festivals, golf …– until the vaccine arrives and the tranquility in our lives and businesses to start working, “he added.

The current problems are multiplying. The hospitality industry is a sector that lives from day to day or not. The supplier invoices accumulate, the rent must be paid and, in the case of franchises, the canon is also negotiated because the contracts did not contemplate situations like the current one. Only companies with home delivery remain open and some have also decided to stop because it did not compensate them.

The question that everyone asks is: When will normalcy return and will they be able to raise the blind again? There are many doubts and no one speaks about it, but everything indicates that the hotel and hospitality industry will have their particular State of alarm when the citizens are already on the street. Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain, hinted in his last appearance at the Congress of Deputies that, quite possibly, he would have to request an extension to the confinement, dated until April 26 provisionally. That would lead to State of alarm until the May 10.

What the EU says

The European Union has published the roadmap to coordinate exit from confinement in European countries. How can it be otherwise, restaurants, bars and cafes They will be one of the last and must open depending on their size and conditions (from smallest to largest). Obviously there will be restrictions on hours and people inside, as well as strict hygiene measures.

What is thought in the sector

From there the doubts come. Suddenly to normality? Everything indicates that no, that the establishments will gradually open, but there could be another 15 days until the opening of bars, restaurants and hotels. The date of June 1 is also discussed in the sector as a possible start Despite the fact that they have been unemployed for many weeks, businessmen cross their fingers to moderately save the summer. The year is lost, but billing from July to September, with terraces, is the way of salvation to avoid closures. The last answer, however, is the coronavirus. Serve as an example that in other communities (Euskadi for example)

A study sets 2021 as a probable date for a return to normality

Meanwhile, a study of Bain & Company Y EY Which collects niust journal has ruled out that normality returns to bars and restaurants throughout the remainder of 2020. This sector is expected to lose 40% of annual turnover for the quarantine and the measures that are implemented once we can go out, where there will still be a long way to go to allow crowds. Further, hundreds of thousands of workers would lose their jobs permanently apart from the ERTEs carried out by numerous establishments.