- Region
- Águilas
- Alhama de Murcia
- Jumilla
- Lorca
- Los Alcázares
- Mazarrón
- San Javier
-
ALL AREAS & TOWNS
- AREAS
- SOUTH WEST
- MAR MENOR
- MURCIA CITY & CENTRAL
- NORTH & NORTH WEST
- TOWNS
- Abanilla
- Abarán
- Aguilas
- Alamillo
- Alcantarilla
- Aledo
- Alhama de Murcia
- Archena
- Balsicas
- Blanca
- Bolnuevo
- Bullas
- Cañadas del Romero
- Cabo de Palos
- Calasparra
- Camping Bolnuevo
- Campo De Ricote
- Camposol
- Canada De La Lena
- Caravaca de la Cruz
- Cartagena
- Cehegin
- Ceuti
- Cieza
- Condado de Alhama
- Corvera
- Costa Cálida
- Cuevas De Almanzora
- Cuevas de Reyllo
- El Carmoli
- El Mojon
- El Molino (Puerto Lumbreras)
- El Pareton / Cantareros
- El Raso
- El Valle Golf Resort
- Fortuna
- Fuente Alamo
- Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
- Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
- Isla Plana
- Islas Menores & Mar de Cristal
- Jumilla
- La Azohia
- La Charca
- La Manga Club
- La Manga del Mar Menor
- La Pinilla
- La Puebla
- La Torre
- La Torre Golf Resort
- La Unión
- Las Palas
- Las Ramblas
- Las Ramblas Golf
- Las Torres de Cotillas
- Leiva
- Librilla
- Lo Pagan
- Lo Santiago
- Lorca
- Lorquí
- Los Alcázares
- Los Balcones
- Los Belones
- Los Canovas
- Los Nietos
- Los Perez (Tallante)
- Los Urrutias
- Los Ventorrillos
- Mar De Cristal
- Mar Menor
- Mar Menor Golf Resort
- Mazarrón
- Mazarrón Country Club
- Molina de Segura
- Moratalla
- Mula
- Murcia City
- Murcia Property
- Pareton
- Peraleja Golf Resort
- Perin
- Pilar de la Horadada
- Pinar de Campoverde
- Pinoso
- Playa Honda
- Playa Honda / Playa Paraíso
- Pliego
- Portmán
- Pozo Estrecho
- Puerto de Mazarrón
- Puerto Lumbreras
- Puntas De Calnegre
- Region of Murcia
- Ricote
- Roda Golf Resort
- Roldan
- Roldan and Lo Ferro
- San Javier
- San Pedro del Pinatar
- Santiago de la Ribera
- Sierra Espuña
- Sucina
- Tallante
- Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
- Torre Pacheco
- Totana
- What's On Weekly Bulletin
- Yecla
- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Alicante Today Andalucia Today
ARCHIVED - Murcia region preparing aid for hostelry businesses forced to close from this weekend
From Saturday bars and restaurants will close for at least 2 weeks
There have been widespread protests in the Region of Murcia over the regional government’s decision to close down bars and restaurants as one of the measures designed to reduce the coronavirus incidence rate, with both members of the public and those working in hostelries angered by the onset of another period in which an important aspect of social life will be removed.
Following the prolonged closure of hostelries during the spring there have been dire warnings from within the sector that many of the 9,000 or so businesses affected in Murcia could be forced to close for good, directly affecting 35,000 workers and as many as 20,000 more whose livelihoods depend on bars and restaurants. Juan José López of the Hostecar hostelries association in Cartagena claims that “we have been unable to work for almost a year” and describes the closure of bars and restaurants as of midnight on Friday (although takeaway meals can continue to be offered) as “disproportionate”, adding that the figures show that the incidence rate of the pandemic is lower in coastal municipalities than in inland areas.
This echoes a widespread sentiment that the hospitality sector is somehow being held to blame unfairly for the virulence of the second wave of Covid, a theory which bar and restaurants owners of course deny. But the regional government’s Covid coordinator, Jaime Pérez, estimates that 25 per cent of all contagion takes place during leisure activities - including social meals and gatherings in bars - where people remove their facemasks, and that these infections then generate further contagion in family homes.
There is a general consensus that in the municipalities of Fortuna, Jumilla, Lorca, Totana and Abanilla, where the indoor areas of bars were closed and capacity on outdoor terraces was restricted due to localized outbreaks, a rapid decrease in incidence rates soon followed. If shopping malls and other places frequented by large numbers of people have escaped the closure order in Murcia – for the time being, at least – it is because it is rare for people to remove their facemasks in these locations, according to Manuel Villegas, the minister for Health in the Murcia government, who adds that studies now suggest that neither shops nor schools are significant hotbeds of infection.
It may be hard to verify Sr Pérez’s claim that by implementing the bar closure and other measures announced earlier in the week the rate of contagion can be lowered by as much as 70 per cent, but at the same time it is impossible to make the counter-claim that the move will have no beneficial effects at all in alleviating the critical situation in which the health service currently finds itself. The fact of the matter is that bars and restaurants, like cinemas and theatres, are luxuries and part of the pleasures of life, and that as such if they are closed down it is certainly an inconvenience and a source of annoyance to many people, but is not life-threatening and being without them during a period of crisis will be hard, but not as hard as losing a loved one to covid.
Of course, the “inconvenience” is considerably greater for the owners of the establishments affected and the staff they employ, and this cannot be ignored. Many business owners have sunk years of hard work, dedication and personal sacrifice into building their businesses, to say nothing of enormous financial investment, and it is soul-destroying to watch coronavirus knocking down everything that they have worked so hard to achieve.
As they rightly say, covid is not their fault, but there is no denying that having bars and restaurants open does encourage people to socialise and as we know all too well by now, covid is spread by human contact, so if we want to limit the spread, we have to limit the contacts. Closing bars and restaurants is one of a dwindling number of options open to the Government before finally being forced to lock us down in own homes again, something everyone is desperate to avoid. At least this way we can still shop, can still exercise, enjoy sports, go to the markets and other businesses can keep trading, many of whom have lost equal amounts of revenue to the bars and restaurants throughout this crisis.
In this context Fernando López Miras, the president of the Murcia government, has proposed aid packages for the hostelry businesses being closed down in order to help them pay rental and other costs and to compensate for perishable goods which will be lost during the closure.
The proposals made by the regional government met with the approval on Thursday of the president of the CROEM business federation at a meeting in Murcia. The rescue package which is being drawn up and will be published in full in the near future, also includes a team offering expert financial advice and the promise of a promotional campaign to breathe life back into the sector when the pandemic has slowed, and efforts are to be made to persuade Town Halls to forgo the local taxes payable by businesses affected at least until the middle of next year, such as the charges made by local town halls for occupying public space in the streets and rubbish charges. These have already been waived by some councils around Spain to help their local hostelry sector.
23 million euros have already been set aside to help the sector (although Jesús Jiménez of the Hostemur association claims that the funds are not reaching the people who need them), and on Thursday Fernando López Miras insisted that the aim was for the closures to be temporary rather than permanent, adding that the owners of bars and restaurants are not to blame: rather, they are the victims of the current situation.
The debate over bar and restaurant closures is, and will continue to be, a heated one, and it is clear that no-one will enjoy the sight of the shutters remaining down at these establishments until the situation improves significantly. But it is worth remembering that many other business sectors are being heavily hit by the pandemic and are receiving no aid whatsoever.
Bars and restaurants are just the top of the supply chain, and sectors such as the wineries which sell their wines to the hostelry sector have reported significant losses of sales and have gone into this harvest with millions of litres of wine unsold from the previous harvest. The same situation exists in the olive oil sector, and in many businesses servicing the hostelry sector. Clothing retailers are closing down left, right and centre, several major groups of shoe shops for example, already closing down in the region, which will again feed down to loss of sales for shoe manufacturers here, and on down the chain into the tanneries. Tourism has been badly battered. Tour guides have had no work since the cruise ships stopped docking, even tourist attractions such as the main managed Roman attractions in Cartagena have been forced to close and lay their staff off as there are no tourists. Souvenir shops are on their knees, those who service tourists with bicycle hire, boat trips, transfers....all of us who advertise their products have lost their advertising and their revenue……there are tens of thousands of businesses adversely affected and none of us are receiving a cent in the way of aid or compensation.
As we already know, Covid is none of our faults, and many businesses which are not bars and restaurants are also struggling to survive; there’s little option other than to just get on with it, be responsible, and hope that case numbers go down soon.
Cartagena
El Carmoli
Islas Menores and Mar de Cristal
La Manga Club
La Manga del Mar Menor
La Puebla
La Torre Golf Resort
La Union
Los Alcazares
Los Belones
Los Nietos
Los Urrutias
Mar Menor Golf Resort
Pilar de la Horadada
Playa Honda / Playa Paraiso
Portman
Roldan and Lo Ferro
San Javier
San Pedro del Pinatar
Santa Rosalia Lake and Life resort
Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
Torre Pacheco
Aledo
Alhama de Murcia
Bolnuevo
Camposol
Condado de Alhama
Fuente Alamo
Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
Lorca
Mazarron
Puerto de Mazarron
Puerto Lumbreras
Sierra Espuna
Totana
Abaran
Alcantarilla
Archena
Blanca
Corvera
El Valle Golf Resort
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
Lorqui
Molina de Segura
Mosa Trajectum
Murcia City
Peraleja Golf Resort
Ricote
Sucina
Condado de Alhama
El Valle Golf Resort
Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
Islas Menores and Mar de Cristal
La Manga Club
La Torre Golf Resort
Mar Menor Golf Resort
Mazarron Country Club
Mosa Trajectum
Peraleja Golf Resort
Santa Rosalia Lake and Life resort
Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
La Zenia
Lomas de Cabo Roig
CAMPOSOL TODAY Whats OnCartagena SpainCoronavirusCorvera Airport MurciaMurcia Gota Fria 2019Murcia property news generic threadWeekly Bulletin