Catalan nightlife will be able to reopen from midnight this Thursday to Friday after accumulating 569 days closed indoors since the start of the pandemic, a figure that rises to 700 days if partial and restricted openings are taken into account, according to the data of the Catalan Federation of Associations of Restoration and Musical Activities (Fecasarm).
According to the entity, the sector accumulates losses of around 6,500 million euros, an amount that has been calculated taking into account the usual billing in a situation without a pandemic. They ask for more public aid, since the 60 million received so far are only enough to cover “1%” of what was lost.
From this midnight, discos and music bars will reopen without capacity or schedule limitations, and the use of the Covid passport will not be required, which had been necessary the last times the sector was allowed to open, reports Europa Press .
The first time the sector was restricted to stop coronavirus infections among the population was on March 11, 2020, when the Government decided to suspend the events that welcomed more than 1,000 people in Catalonia, before which the sector already asked for help economic, anticipating losses.
On March 14, after the former Minister of the Interior of the Generalitat Miquel Buch requested the cessation of activity, nightlife had to face its first total closure.
While the closure was in force, associations such as Fecasarm, the Catalan Federation of Nightlife Venues (Fecalon) and Spain Nightlife requested a controlled reopening and proposed, among others, the implementation of a health certificate that would guarantee compliance with health measures by the establishments.
On June 19, the sector partially reopened, with capacity restrictions, after which the ban on gatherings of more than 10 people came into force and, consequently, a new closure on July 24.
More than 300 days in a row without activity
On July 24, a closure began that lasted for more than 300 days, in the face of repeated demands for an opening by Fecasarm, which criticized that the measure only contributed to an increase in large bottles and illegal parties, as well as protests in Barcelona and even hunger strikes. by professionals.
Almost a year later, the decrease in infections linked to the summer months in 2021 led to a timid opening in early July, with restrictions that ranged between closures of interior spaces and limitations on both time to be on the terraces and capacity. in them, which was eventually extended to weekends.
It was in this context that , also implemented in other sectors such as restaurants, through which only people who presented the complete vaccination schedule were allowed to enter entertainment venues.
The new total closure came again for the sector on December 23, 2021, in the middle of winter and justified by a new increase in infections, just before the Christmas holidays, and it has remained completely closed during the course of 2022.
Fecasarm regrets that the harsh restrictions on the sector, which feels criminalized, have caused the bankruptcy of many companies, although this cannot yet be quantified until the moratorium on the presentation of bankruptcy proceedings ends. The entity also claims legal certainty from the Generalitat, so that new generalized restrictions are not repeated and with very little notice.
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