Despite their reopening, Parisian restaurants are blaming themselves. The latter saw their attendance drop by 30% on average compared to the month of December 2019, assesses this Friday, December 24, the Union of Trades and Hospitality Industry (UMIH) in Île-de-France with of France Bleu Paris. A shortfall that would be linked to the absence of tourists in the capital, especially British, with the tightening of entry conditions on French soil.
The employers’ organization is therefore asking for deferred repayment of loans guaranteed by the State (PGE). “All the restaurants are affected by this return of the health crisis”, regrets Franck Delvau, president of the UMIH in Île-de-France. “We must push back the deadlines of the EMPs to 2023, it is a minimum and spread them over ten years,” he reiterates. He also calls on the government and the presidential candidates to support this proposal.
“Bankruptcies are likely to arrive in number”
The current repayment deadline is March 2022, and the government had already indicated that it did not want to postpone this deadline again. “All the countries around us are in the process of reconfiguring themselves, we do not know what can be announced. If there is no concrete help on the EMP or even a reactivation of solidarity funds, bankruptcies risk to arrive in numbers “, warns Franck Delvau. A meeting with the government is scheduled for early January.
The restaurant industry has been at its worst for several months now. From January to July 2021, compared to pre-Covid 19 activity, turnover had fallen by 45% and attendance by 39%, indicated NPD Group, a specialist in market research.
>> To read also – Covid-19: the turnover of restaurants in free fall
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