The Asociación de Chiringuitos de la Costa Tropical joined the protests yesterday concerning the closing down of the sector; i.e., chiringos restaurants & bars.

“We are the worst hit sector. Many business owners won’t be able to survive and will have to close down permanently, thus pushing up unemployment in the sector” said the Chairman of the association, Francisco Trujillo.

They feel that they are being singled out as the hotbed of contagion in the province, but nothing could be further from the truth, they consider.

The Chairman says that they want the province to be declared a Disaster Area in order to receive economic relief.

The trouble is, he points out, there is no direct aid and Social-Security payments for autónomos have not been suspended, as have not the ones for employed staff,either.

The association calculates that some 15,000 jobs are at risk, together with over 5,000 businesses in a sector that normally accounts for 15% of the PIB (GNP) of the province. It also thinks that other provinces, even though there are also many cases of Covid, have flexible conditions as far as opening goes.

The Chairman concluded with, “our closure won’t help the spread of the virus although it will bring our ruin,” adding, “let’s hope this closure helps the situation but it doesn’t look that way.”

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)