According to the Horesca federation’s general secretary, 25% to 30% of businesses opened their terraces this week.
Fusenig stated that while café and restaurant owners are happy to be back at work, the opening times imposed by the government are not ideal. The managing director of Concept+Partners, a group which owns a number of restaurants and bars in Luxembourg, said that he had hoped for a closing time between 9 and 10 pm. Koepp added that the Horesca federation had asked the government to allow businesses to serve their customers until at least 8 pm.
Cravat lamented that the situation for hotel owners in Luxembourg City, whose main activity relies on business travellers, is “disastrous”. Since residents from neighbouring countries have now also been barred from coming to Luxembourg, he himself is currently struggling with an occupancy rate of less than 10%.
All three guests agreed that the vaccination strategy is highly important for the industry. Rapid tests for staff and customers could however also be a part of the solution, particularly in the events industry.
The sector still heavily relies on partial unemployment to make ends meet. Fusenig stated that when it was reported that the government was allegedly thinking about cutting partial unemployment by 50% even before businesses would be allowed to fully reopen, it came as a shock and led to “several sleepless nights”.
Koepp also stressed that the measure must remain in place for as long as the “administrative closure” of the sector is upheld.
Regarding the common criticism that the aids are not being paid out quickly enough, Fusening stated that in his experience, the funds are paid out in an “acceptable time frame” as long as owners submitted a “complete” application.
Cravat added that in his eyes, the financial aids were not introduced quickly enough, at least compared to how fast the country’s leading politicians were to impose closures.
Luxembourg’s banks have also mostly let the sector down during the crisis, the guests deplored. According to Koepp, most of them have been very hesitant to grant loans to struggling businesses.
