As the Swiss government is expected to extend closure of bars, restaurants and leisure facilities across the country until the end of February amid rise in Coronavirus case and death numbers, the hospitality industry is at risk of bankruptcy, reported AFP quoting the employer’s group.
Releasing a statement, Industry federation GastroSuisse have warned that without significant financial support, around half of businesses in the restauration and hospitality sector could go belly-up by March end.
The group conducted a poll and found out that around 4,000 restaurant and hotel owners are in urgent need of financial support.
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“The very existence of many of them is threatened,” GastroSuisse president Casimir Platzer said in the statement.
According to the federation, restaurants and other businesses received financial support during the initial wave of infections, they has complained that support during subsequent sporadic closures has lagged.
The poll revealed that over 80% of restaurants and hotels were in a good or very good position of liquidity before the pandemic outbreak. But that situation quickly deteriorated. After the second wave of the coronavirus hit the country in October, over 100,000 jobs were at risk.
And during the final two months of 2020, nearly 60% of restaurant and hotel establishments were forced to conduct layoffs for a second time, it said.
Without government intervention, a third wave of layoffs is looming, Platzer warned.
The latest closures were to be lifted on January 22, but the government said last week it wanted to extend the deadline for a further five weeks.
GastroSuisse said the final announcement, due Wednesday, needed to be accompanied by “immediate and uncomplicated” financial support to the sector to avoid “disaster”.
Switzerland, a country of 8.6 million people, is currently registering around 4,000 Covid-19 cases a day and had by Friday seen nearly 476,000 cases and 7,545 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
