The Hospitality sector of Tenerife has started legal procedures for the precautionary suspension of the closure of the interiors of bars and restaurants, which is one of the main measures that comes into force from tonight when the Island passes from level 2 to level 3 restrictions.
An appeal by the hotel and restaurant associations of Tenerife is being presented to the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, in which they demand that very precautionary measures be adopted to eliminate the restriction decreed by the Regional Government of the closure of bars and restaurants as of tonight.
The vice president of AERO, Carlos Quintero, said that “a precautionary measure is going to be presented because there are many people in the sector who have no other option, as they don’t have a terrace or take-away service, and basically they can't take it anymore.”
“It is the only option we have left and we did not want to get to this point because we are not a sector that likes conflict, but we believe that the hospitality industry has behaved very well with the government’s demands and with the current situation. We have no other option but to present this appeal for a precautionary measure”.
The sector defends that they are neither responsible nor at fault for the cases that are occurring in Tenerife, and that if the data on the outbreaks are studied, there are minimal cases or outbreaks in the hospitality industry.
They defend that in an establishment the distancing is kept correctly and it has a controlled capacity, it entails much less risk of contagion than that of the crowds in the uncontrolled ‘botellons’ and the illegal parties in private houses, and subsequently ask for more clarity in the data and a greater control in these gatherings.
The sector met last night and, out of desperation, there were bar and restaurant owners who said that they have no choice but to open and face a fine or go bankrupt.
Cases in other places:
The Basque Country is the only Autonomous Community where the hospitality sector managed to get the Superior Court of Justice to agree with it, and proceed to the precautionary suspension of the decree that ordered the closure of bar and restaurant establishments in Euskadi in the municipalities with very high risk, that is, with an incidence of more than 500 positives per 100,000 inhabitants over 14 days.
In its appeal the hospitality industry argued, with supporting data, that it has been proven that bars and restaurants had not caused the increase in infections and attributed to the spread of Covid-19, but it was due to "the relaxation of measures" by the Basque Government over Christmas. The approval of the TSJPV arrived on February 9th of this year.
