In one year, 11,800 hotels and restaurants went bankrupt and more closures are anticipated

Ana Clara Pedotti

05/27/2021 15:01

• Clarín.com

• Economy

Updated 05/27/2021 3:01 PM

The fourteen months of restrictions due to the Covid 19 pandemic in Argentina unleashed

an endless crisis in the hotel and gastronomic sector,

the most affected by the stoppage of activity. 

According to a report by FEHGRA, the Gastronomic Hotel Business Federation of the Argentine Republic, which groups 50,000 establishments in the sector, since March 2020

more than 11,800 companies in this area had to close their doors.

This implies that more than

175,000 families lost their source of work.

To quantify the impact of the

crisis in the hotel sector, the largest in its history,

FEHGRA pointed out that in March of this year the occupation in the country was half of what had been registered in March 2019, when the pandemic it was not in the equation. With these numbers,

this industry went back 40 years: it retraced its levels to those it had presented in 1980

. 

The

closure of borders

further complicates the situation of hotels: the arrival of tourists from abroad is 88% lower than in March 2020, before the Preventive and Compulsory Social Isolation (ASPO) was decreed and

95% less

than that had been seen in the same month but in 2019. In the city of Buenos Aires, international tourism represents almost 50% of normal activity, while in other areas of the country, such as Patagonia, 25%.

The business report also warns that the

latest measures

anu

Initiated by the National Government to try to stop the contagion of the second wave of coronavirus

will be lethal

for this industry.

"Our reality today

is worse than the most pessimistic scenario that we projected.

11,800 companies have already disappeared, 3,800 more than in 2020, the year in which 8,000 establishments closed their doors.

175,000 jobs were lost in our sector.

But, in addition, with the new restrictions that prevent work in most of our SMEs, unfortunately, the situation that is already critical will get even worse.

There is no company that resists without the possibility of working ”,

affirmed Graciela Fresno, president of FEHGRA.

In the quarterly comparison, the drop in the hotel and gastronomy sector is 41% compared to the first three months of 2019. The gastronomic activity contracted by 39% in these two years, as a result of the crisis that unleashed the covid.

This collapse makes it

the worst hit sector of the Argentine economy,

which on average lost 3% in the last year.

"During 2020, compared to 2019, the accommodation sector had a drop of 68%, while the decline in Gastronomy was 44%. The INDEC numbers clearly show that these are the sectors most affected, since the fall of the activity of other sectors is much lower: Construction fell 23%, Manufacturing Industry 8%, Agriculture and Livestock 7% and Commerce 5%, "the report detailed.

The sector is also the one that experienced the

most profound job destruction.

Only last February, a month in which traffic had "normalized",

60,000 jobs

were lost

. 

Due to the magnitude of the crisis in the sector, Fresno demanded

more state assistance.

“We appreciate the support of the National Government, which implemented the Productive Recovery Program (REPRO) and provided a specific credit line for our sector, but our situation is

extremely serious,

of historical magnitude and much worse than in the rest of the economy. . We need support in tune with the dimension of the losses ”.

Specifically, the sector requests assistance equivalent to

two minimum wages applicable to the payment of workers' wages,

and greater access for all hotel and gastronomic companies.

REPRO II assists just over 45,000 workers in the sector, while ATP 2 reached more than 180,000 hotel and gastronomic employees, they explained.

On the other hand, FEHGRA supports the Senate Bill that proposes the Declaration of the Emergency of the sector and the elaboration of a Federal Reconstruction Plan, which includes a package of economic, tax, tributary, labor measures and incentive and promotion.

NE

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