2023-11-23 00:07:06
The president of the Hotel Business Federation of Mallorca (FEHM), Maria Frontera, considers “very complicated” to implement the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week in Balearics. This is how Frontera expressed himself this Wednesday when asked about this issue after a meeting with the Palma City Council within the framework of the XIX Congress of Hoteliers of Spain.
For his part, the president of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (CEHAT), Jorge Marichal, considers it necessary that The new Government “accelerates the regeneration processes and agreements” of mature tourist destinations and facilitates investment without “getting dizzy” with legislation. In relation to the reduction of working hours, the president of CEHAT has said that they are analyzing how it can fit into the tourism sector “which is very broad and has many types of companies”, so it will be “a challenge.”
“Good luck” to Minister Hereu
Marichal has wished “the best of luck” to the new Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, of whom he has said that when he had responsibilities in the mayor’s office of Barcelona “already had good relations with the tourism sector”, highlighted in statements to the media, after meeting with the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, on the occasion of the celebration in the city of the XIX Congress of Spanish Hoteliers from Thursday.
The president of the hoteliers has emphasized that, although tourism powers are delegated to the autonomous communities “There are important things, especially the transposition of European regulations, where the Government has a lot to say.”
Marichal has lamented that since tourism is a transversal subject, which touches on issues such as security, cleanliness, promotion and culture, “she is the girl who is always dancing but no one has just sat in a Ministry of Tourism.”
“We want them to focus their efforts and see that the tourism sector accounts for between 12 and 14% of GDP and is a thriving sector of which we must be proud,” stressed the president of CEHAT.
He has defended that tourism “gives a good image, gives good results and good numbers” and demonstrated its resilience with the covid: “We were able to do magic during the pandemic, we stayed at zero and in two months we again had practically the “the same number of tourists as before the pandemic.”
In Marichal’s opinion, The tourism regeneration agreements “have to be on the table” of the new Government, because there are destinations that must be updated.
“Private investment is there and businesses have to be profitable, but then it has to be easy for this to be done and not get bogged down with legislation and urban planning regulations that sometimes make investments impossible,” warned the president of the hoteliers.
“We have to be practical, comply with all environmental regulations but accelerate the regeneration processes and agreements so that Spain can be the most competitive country in the world in tourism; and that is done together, with politicians, the sector and technicians. “he claimed.
Maria Frontera has agreed to demand legal security from the new Government that can facilitate investment, and has asked Minister Hereu to form a “professional, rigorous and close to the sector, to work in a coordinated manner” team.
According to Frontera, In Spain, public-private collaboration works, but the same is not always the case with public-public collaboration, “which fails a lot” among the different executives, which is why he has called for “establishing the rules very well.”
Considers it necessary that the Ministry of Industry and Tourism reinforce the pending agreements with the Balearic Islands, with the destination Mallorca and “the funds that are all stuck”
“Above all, we need to eliminate instability, legal certainty and for messages to be coordinated with the tourism sector,” claimed Frontera, who believes that there is still time to “prepare a better tourist season for next year.”
Workday
Regarding the reduction of working hours, Marichal says that they are analyzing how it can fit into the tourism sector “which is very broad and has many types of companies”, so it will be “a challenge.” ““We will have to talk to the unions, our colleagues, because we have always reached agreements and there is social peace,” has assured.
Marichal has advanced that, in the case of hotels, this measure “will not affect a small inland hotel in the same way as a holiday hotel”, and has highlighted the importance of collective bargaining and company and sectoral agreements.
For its part, Frontera has warned that in the case of the Balearic Islands, which was at full employment during the high season, “The application of this measure becomes very complicated,” not only in tourism, but “in the entire productive fabric, because the same thing would happen in public administration.”
The president of the Mallorcan hoteliers considers an agreement between companies and unions necessary because “there cannot be unilateral decisions”, and above all that there an adaptation to each territory.
“We have to apply common sense,” asked Frontera, which warned that “you cannot go around playing without having foreseen or anticipated how the measure can be applied.”
“Every advance has to be taken into account but we have to adapt it to the territory,” he claimed and recalled that, in the Balearic Islands, the salary increase by agreement since 2014 reaches 29.9%, which does not occur in other destinations. “We have a different territory with particularities that also have to be taken into account,” she insisted.
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