Santa Cruz supports the hotel and restaurant industry

The Governing Board approves a motion to that effect and the Mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, meets with their representatives.

The Local Government Board of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has unanimously approved today a motion in support of the hotel and catering sector in which, in addition, asks the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo to initiate a dialogue procedure with the sector to promote concrete measures to compensate its economic situation. Also this morning, the mayor of the municipality, José Manuel Bermúdez, held a meeting with representatives of the sector, accompanied by the councilors of Economic Promotion and Development Society, Evelyn Alonso and Alfonso Cabello, respectively.

The text of the approved motion recalls that since the beginning of 2020 “we have been suffering the effects of a serious global health crisis that has led, in turn, to a series of restrictions with their consequent negative effects on the economy”. In a city with a strong dependence on the service sector, one of the areas that has suffered the most from these restrictions has been the restaurant and hotel industry.

The motion recalls that the City Council has implemented various measures to “compensate for the battered economic situation” and “alleviate the significant loss of jobs”. “Among others,” says the agreement, “different bonuses have been established for the sector, such as a 50% reduction in the garbage tax, extendable to all self-employed workers in the municipality, or the bonus in the same amount of the rate paid by the 18 kiosks that exist in the city.”

The application procedure for terraces in an “express” way, the exemption of payment for the occupation of public roads for four years now or the future campaign of Consumer Vouchers are actions taken by the City Council to compensate the sector, which recognizes “its role in generating wealth and employment in Santa Cruz”. The agreement of the Governing Board also requests, finally, “the Canary Islands Government and Cabildo to initiate a dialogue with the sector to take measures to compensate their economic situation, since those that have been implemented so far have proven insufficient”.

During the course of the morning, José Manuel Bermúdez, accompanied by the Councilman delegate of the Development Society, Alfonso Cabello and the Councilwoman of Economic Promotion, Evelyn Alonso, met with representatives of the catering and hospitality sector that demonstrated this morning in the streets of Santa Cruz and La Laguna, to whom he conveyed “the absolute willingness of the government team to continue holding meetings, as it has done so far, to seek ways to help mitigate the effects of the restrictions and allow to continue maintaining the productive fabric and jobs”.

Bermudez reiterated his defense of “the importance of maintaining the curfew schedule at 23:00 hours, since I echo the unanimous request of the sector that this hour of more with respect to the current means almost half of the income of each business” and added that “I also think it is logical that the possibility of maintaining a capacity in the dining rooms of 33%, with the hygienic-sanitary measures that have been applying from the beginning the hospitality industry, as it happens in this occasion of level 3 in gyms and gambling premises, but not so in this sector is repeated.”

Finally, the mayor remained at the disposal of the representatives and pledged to “always keep the door open to the claims of the sector,” while recalling that “we were the first local government to allow nightlife companies to open during the day to try to maintain their economic activity and business,” and told them that “when we achieve immunity and can perform activities in the street, we will program cultural, sports and leisure activities as never seen in this municipality”.