Hospitality industry demands more than just aid as a solution to their situation

Representatives of the hospitality industry in Gran Canaria have gathered again this morning (Tuesday) to demonstrate in front of the headquarters of the Government of the Canary Islands in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, against the extreme situation they are suffering due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

They are demanding for assistance for suppliers, bars, restaurants, entertainers, and employees who depend on the service sector, specifically the hospitality and catering industry, not just on Gran Canaria, but all of the islands.

The business owners demand urgent measures from the Canarian Government to rescue the sector from a "certain death" that would filter through to many other sectors, and be an "absolute disaster” for the Canarian economy. The sector considers itself "ignored, crushed, annihilated and, above all, blamed" for the spread of the virus, and at this moment when it is mortally wounded wants to show "its most absolute disagreement with the measures implemented to stop this evil virus that affects us," they say in a manifesto that will be distributed among those affected.

“We are here to assert our rights and freedoms as a democratic society. It cannot be that this pandemic that has shaken the foundations of our society and in which we are seeing thousands of people lose their lives, becomes a pretext to limit the most fundamental and inalienable right of every individual, the right to work, the right to express oneself, the right to freedom," they argue in the aforementioned document.

The Canary Islands Minister of Economy, Knowledge and Employment, Elena Máñez, said yesterday that the Government is making an unprecedented effort to expedite aid, but cannot finance 100% recovery.

She also asked in parliamentary committee yesterday, for people not to resort to "easy demagogy and biased vision", given the criticism received by the three groups in the opposition, Nacionalista, PP and Ciudadanos, who have attacked what that they consider "improvisation" of the Executive in the face of the "clamour" of the economic sectors paralyzed by the pandemic.

Máñez argued that this crisis is being settled with the greatest effort of public investment to safeguard essential public services, and as an example cited that within the aid provided by the Executive is a plan with 165 million euros for three sectors of non-refundable grants of between 3,000 and 15,000 euros "compared to the 1,000 euros granted in Andalucía."