Foto: Victoria Borodinova / Pexels
As soon as they heard about the new restrictive measures coming into force on Monday 25 October, many tourists cancelled their bookings in the mountain resorts, Rador reports. Hotels will only be able to accommodate people who have been vaccinated against the virus or who have been sick, and at one hotel in Predeal, for example, almost 90% of reservations have already been cancelled. Under these circumstances, hoteliers are having to cut staff.
The hotel manager in Predeal, Marius Ioniță, told Radio Românie that
“We can’t say that we can prepare in a certain way for such measures. As a hotelier, you can only make people redundant and pay what you can out of your pocket. Clearly you have to send people out of work. As far as we are concerned (at the Predeal resort – editor’s note), since last week, when it was announced that new restrictions would be approved, we have had over 90% of our bookings cancelled, as well as private events – a wedding the very next weekend. Consequently, you can’t financially support the band running such a venue with 90% of the takings cancelled. Let’s not forget that we are sending people out of work, although in normal times we miss them in tourism, because something else has happened lately. People with catering experience, such as cooks, who we could pay around 4,000 lei a month, have been redeployed to better paid jobs, for example at RATBV on a salary of over 5,000 lei and meal vouchers.”
Because they will only be able to operate at 50% of restaurant capacity, hotels will once again incur significant losses, even if they have loyal and vaccinated customers. In this context, tourism managers are hoping for help from the state.
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The manager of a four-star hotel in Poiana Brasov, Gabriel Rosca, said:
“I am a hotelier and I care, because I think how the situation would have looked if we had 70% vaccination rate at this point. I think the occupancy rate would have been much better. We can’t say that we are happy with the new (restrictive – editor’s note) measures, because we operate with money. In my opinion, these measures should have been combined with some taxes that have been cancelled or at least reduced”.
From Monday 25 October, the green covid certificate will be compulsory for most activities, except for grocery stores and pharmacies, protective masks will be compulsory indoors and outdoors, schools will go on a two-week forced holiday, and night-time travel will not be allowed for the unvaccinated unless justified. Bars, clubs and discos will be closed, and weddings and christenings will be banned.