The businessmen and merchants of Xàbia describe the coronavirus crisis as "disastrous" and "great losses"
With the arrival of Easter, it can be said that the good season for the hospitality industry begins, these are days that extend into months when people go out, enjoy the terraces, the good weather and friends. This Easter is different in every way.
The representatives of the businessmen and merchants associations of Xàbia value this health crisis as a "disaster", a situation that leads to "huge losses". And it is that, the hospitality sector is one of the most punished by the sanitary measures decreed to stop the coronavirus.
The president of the Association of Xàbia Port, Cande Ros, has indicated that in hospitality, "These days are the ones that we are at 100%. Easter is one of the best seasons with which work begins until September. After the hard winter that we have passed, we were looking forward to this season and to find this is very complicated "
"In addition, knowing that we are going to be the last to be able to open, although we still do not know when and with what measures it makes us see the situation more difficult, but from the associates of the port, we are encouraged and aware of fighting to get ahead"Ros explains.
In general, hoteliers believe that as soon as normal will not resume until June, "what gives time to start but not to obtain benefits", indicates Alfonso Pinel, president of the Arenal Merchants and Entrepreneurs Association, who adds that this Easter is "Total losses. Expenses must be faced with 0 income".
For his part, the president of the Association of Merchants and Entrepreneurs of Xàbia Histórica, Raúl Caselles, agrees with Cande that the situation is "disastrous". "In these days we had our time to fill the Easter market and other activities, but in the end, it is the small business that suffers and is taken away by large stores". Caselles says that the businessmen are down because even when the expenses are closed they are the same and it becomes difficult to cope with the situation.
The Arenal businessmen describe the impact of the coronavirus as a situation "terrible". "I do not know how we are going to survive this crisis; we are going to see what the summer will be like, we hope that we will be given oxygen so that we can face the situation a little better and resist and not have to shut down"Pinel says.
The president of the Arenal Association asserts that "From the group we are concerned, we are aware that the return to normal will be slow and we have lost foreign tourism". "Several businessmen had made improvements to the premises and have found the lost season"Alfonso Pinel adds.
Jose Manuel Piña, president of the Association of Restaurateurs of Xàbia (ARX), agrees on the uncertainty that this situation generates for each of the restaurant owners, "It is annoying. We do not know when the confinement will end, how the spaces will be distributed, what measures will be put in place at the time of opening or how the ERTE affects. All are doubts that lead us to see a complicated situation until it is know the government measures. "
Piña stressed that for the moment, with a return to normality "You have to rely on local and national tourism, we cannot count on abroad."
Meeting with the mayor
From the telematic meeting with the mayor, the representatives of the associations have stated that they are happy with the measures the City Council is working on, "We have been transferred a package of aid that will make the entrepreneurs see the light, since it will be direct aid to each merchant, studying each case personally".
Pinel indicates that the measures transferred by the mayor are expectant "He gave us a lot of support and energy and we look forward to a strong winter campaign targeting local and second-home people".
José Manuel Piña and Cande Ros, for their part, have indicated that with the new aid and the elimination of the rates already announced they provide a respite for the owners of the restaurants, "which many of them must continue facing, for example, the payment of the rent of the premises".
