Nightlife adds 800,000 euros in losses with its ‘blackout’ due to the virus

The inactivity imposed on nightlife by the coronavirus has left an economic hole of great depth in the box of the sector. The premises that, without the pandemic, concentrated hundreds of young people weekend after weekend in crowded spaces, now have the door shut tight. For the public administration, your activity is incompatible with the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. Even more so in the context of the recent measures adopted by the central government and the Generalitat Valenciana to put an end to the escalation of positive cases throughout the province. If before the stage was more than complicated for an upcoming reopening, Measures such as the curfew keep the reactivation of establishments away to infinity.

Nightlife already accumulates in the capital Castellón eight months with the blinds down. And the bill for expenses has only grown month by month. This is recognized by JuanjoBenavent, president of the On-Castellon association integrated into the Ashocas hospitality and tourism association.

According to a study carried out by the nightlife employers’ association, in the capital the sector has lost up to 800,000 euros in 8 months. That is the mark that the coronavirus has left in the cash of the 47 establishments gathered in the business organization that is in charge of defending their interests and, in this turbulent time, of claiming a line of aid or a tax amnesty from the public administration .

As JuanjoBenavent explained, each month for nightlife there is a 100,000 euros in losses in the capital.

These include the tax burdens they must face because we continue paying taxes without having income and without benefiting from public services because we are closed, another series of ordinary expenses such as electricity and water because the refrigerators must be ready in case we could open any day, the rents of the real estate they occupy and the invoice of the ERTE in which workers are faced with a blockade that is already chronic.

There are employees in our sector, said JuanjoBenavent, who have decided to stop working at nightlife and they have explained to us that they were going to find another job. They think that it will take a long time for the situation to normalize and they cannot wait any longer, they need to get to work, ”he said.

Regarding the future, the representative of the businessmen appealed that the worst enemy for businessmen is the uncertainty as there is no timetable for the reopening of the premises.

We are the first interested in helping to control the coronavirus problem. We already demonstrated it when, before the state of alarm was declared, we ourselves decided to close 48 hours before in Castellón. We saw that the situation was worrying but now 8 months have passed, we accumulate 800,000 euros of losses and we do not see the future clear while the hotel business is allowed much more, “Benavent lamented. Despite the messages aimed at obtaining the support of the administration, among the associates the idea that lnormality will not be possible until the summer of 2021. We think that is what is going to happen, in winter there will be many problems and we do not think about New Year’s Eve, so we will continue to suffer a lot, he concluded. In fact, the ON-Castellan association that concentrates nightlife has already received the first casualties of businessmen who have decided to end their economic activity without a precise future.

CONCENTRATION WAITING FOR MORE SUPPORT

The members of the association exhibited this week their fragile situation in an act in the Plaza Mayor demanding solutions

Faced with invisibility, action. In the face of disappointment, reaction. In the face of adversity, union. Any of these expressions is apt to characterize the dynamism of the nightlife management association, ON-Castellon, in its initiative developed this past week to publicize its fragile position and the need to access special aid to resist the  Hardest few in many decades.

Castellón nightlife businessmen called a protest from responsibility. Both in transmitting the message of help to the public administration and in making the organization’s commitment to the prevention of coronavirus visible. With the same suspicion of capacity control inside the premises, nightlife entrepreneurs took a position last Wednesday in the Plaza Mayor to claim a line of subsidies that would alleviate their complicated situation. The hoteliers claim to feel unprotected, as their premises remain closed without counting, in addition, with any expectation of opening soon after a curfew and a state of alarm have been approved by the central government until the month of May which, within the framework of the Valencian Community, has gone to extremes with other severe provisions.

Precisely in the capital Castellón, the voice of nightlife has already had an answer. Specifically, the plenary session of the City Council approved the suspension of the garbage rate for these types of establishments and will ask the Generalitat for a contingency fund, as well as temporary licenses so that companies can develop complementary activities and create jobs.

In addition to the Castellón City Council, the Provincial Council has also been working for weeks to support nightlife in view of its strategic importance for youth employment and to provide alternatives to tourists who visit the province .

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