The President of the Federation of Romanian Tourism Employers (FPTR), Mohammad Murad, told on Tuesday a press conference in southeastern Mamaia resort, that he urgently requests a direct dialogue with the Romanian Government with a view to finding common solutions to compensate for tourism losses, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Fifty thousand people are waiting for the season to be employed or rehired after unemployment. Today, Constanta relies in a proportion of 40 per cent on tourists. This calls for involvement because we're in a fourth-degree coma and we need a special ventilator to wake us up... The government has turned us from mere business people into fighters for our rights. We're not going to stop here. I am launching an ultimatum so that, no later than Saturday, 16 May, a committee made up of all the ministries that are related to tourism should come over to the seaside, sit at the table talk so as to find the best solution for the 400,000 employees who are staying at home and waiting for a solution," Mohammad Murad said at the press conference.
The FPTR president reiterated that he would like the involvement of government partners to mitigate the economic effects induced by measures taken to stop the epidemic crisis and presented a list of proposals.
''We want to work with all the institutions of the Romanian state, but I don't want the Government to lay the responsibility on us. I would like us all to assume the responsibility, we, on our side as a business environment, as people who believed and still believe in Romania, the consumer who comes to us and the Government, so as to split this danger, this problem amongst the three parties so that we can be united in overcoming whatever happens, otherwise if we do not die of coronavirus, we will be starving. It's sad, it takes courage, it takes commitment and communication. We invite the Romanian Government to meet here on the coast to talk to us, to see the suffering of the people here. A wake-up call is needed. If by May 16 we do not make it to a negotiating table, we will go public and we will all organize the funeral of the Romanian tourism. It's very hard and I'm telling you: we see everything we've done over the last ten years slowly, slowly being destroyed,'' Mohammad Murad argued.
According to the list of claims, presented in the press conference, FPTR asks the Government, as measures for exiting the crisis: the support in the next three months of all employees in the tourism industry by paying 60pct of the gross salary; employment premium in the amount of EUR 500, which has the immediate effect of reducing unemployment; the extension of unemployment for seasonal staff from 6 to 8 months; suspension of the specific tax for the whole of 2020; reduction of local taxes and dues by 75pct compared to 2019; establishment of medical test centres in significant tourist resorts; granting EUR 1,000 for tourist hostels as support for reopening; 75pct cut in the value of rents for beaches compared to 2019; the establishment of a single control register on the measures to be applied at the current conjuncture caused by the coronavirus pandemic; the opening of all hotel units classified until 10 June in similar conditions to those in other countries of the European Union and the freezing of the utilities price for a minimum of 6 months.
Comentează