WILLEMSTAD - The Curaçao Restaurant Association, RCA, is disappointed with the government's new corona measures. Restaurants are now required to close at eight so people can meet the early curfew. It started on Monday at 9 p.m. instead of 11 p.m.
The RCA states that home gatherings are the main culprits when it comes to infections and not the hospitality industry. “Now we are hit very hard again,” says Egon Sybrandy of CRA.
According to Sybrandy, the new time of closing at eight o’clock is really an impossible task for restaurants to be able to make enough turnover. It is also expected that the early closing time will reduce visitor numbers.
The CRA is of the opinion that the government must come up with additional financial support, otherwise many bankruptcies will follow. Previous applications for a financial contribution for the sector have never been honored.
“But with these measures it is almost impossible to keep a restaurant open. The scheme under the name of Fixed Cost Allowance (TVL), as there is in the Netherlands, must be back on the table, ” says Sybrandy.
“It is a slap in the face of the hospitality industry. Restaurants have had little or no contamination and generally adhere very well to the rules, it is extra sour that we are hit so hard.