Focus: The new measures are tantamount to an informal lockdown, the market says

Of George Lampiris

The president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and the Central Union of Chambers, Giannis Chatzitheodosiou, talks to Capital.gr about an informal lockdown in the restaurant after the announcement of the new sanitary measures that come into force on January 3rd.

“We have an informal lockdown in the restaurant. When a store closes at 12.00 it is essentially like the government completely shutting down the entertainment shops, bars, etc. In fact, the measures coming from January 3 will further reduce the revenues of its businesses. industry.

Thus, if based on the research recently presented by the Athens Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with ICAP, the turnover of small and medium-sized restaurants decreased significantly in 2021 and in 2021 the estimate of the same research speaks of an additional reduction in turnover, and with these measures taken will continue to further reduce turnover.

Also, 42% of the entrepreneurs in the sector in an earlier survey of the Chamber answered that even if there were installments in the debts, he would not be able to meet his obligations and we would have other padlocks “.

More specifically, the research of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and ICAP presented at the beginning of December, shows that while in 2019 the total sales of very small restaurants in Attica were 1.25 billion euros, in 2020 they decreased to 719.89 million euros and based on the relevant estimate, they will fall to 641.72 million euros for 2021.

It is noted that the research concerns the small enterprises of the sector that are active in the prefecture of Attica (excluding Piraeus, Western Attica and Lavrio).

N. Nikolopoulos (Albion, Dexameni): We should have been booked earlier

A double dimension on the subject is given by the businessman Nektarios Nikolopoulos, businessman in the field of entertainment and catering (Albion, Dexameni).

As he emphasizes, the main issue at the moment is not the turnover that is lost from the stores, but to reduce the cases. “What I am mainly interested in is that one citizen does not transmit the virus to another,” he said.

On the other hand, he points out that the informal lockdown that comes through the new government measures, should have happened earlier.

“Many of my colleagues, including me, procured equipment for the period we are going through, bought products to fill our shops. We should not get to where we are today, for the Greek government to make this decision.

In any case, our stores now operate with very few people. The audience is scared and has stopped going out. For the first time this year we operated on Christmas Eve and closed at 02:30 “.

“But what I understood through the new measures is that everything starts and ends in the restaurant. I was waiting to hear some measures. What I finally saw is that the measures announced by the Minister of Health, concern only the catering sector.

“They restrict our operation and do not place restrictions on other crowded places such as the means of transport, where no one cares about the effective spread of the virus, as people are crowded uncontrollably in buses, metros and trolleys”, adds N. Nikolopoulos.

“So if they treat us as the most important link in the business chain, turning all the measures only on us, they should take care after the end of this whole situation, so that we receive the appropriate aid so that we can continue,” he concludes.

What the measures provide for the focus

Catering measures provide for mandatory use of FFP2 / KN95 mask by staff in catering – entertainment. At the same time the opening hours of the restaurants and entertainment shops will be until 12 midnight.

The measures also stipulate that there will be no standing and up to six people will be able to sit at the tables. In any remark, from the first day of implementation of the measures, that they are not observed, there will be an interruption of the music.

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