Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said yesterday that hotels would be eligible for financial assistance to mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, consisting of 350 euro per bed and 150 per room, reports the Beta news agency.
After meeting with the representatives of the association of hotels at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Mali underlined that the only condition for receiving the financial assistance is for hotels not to lay off more than 10% of employees by the end of the year.
He added that the hotels will receive the financial assistance in late September, or early October, at the latest, and that the Ministry of Commerce, Tourism and Telecommunications will launch a public call for hoteliers in ten days’ time which will specify criteria for this financial aid programme.
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According to the Minister of Finance, out of about 380 city hotels, only 115 are open and out of 115 hotels in Belgrade, 42 have the bed occupancy of about 9.5%.
The announced measure is the first sectoral measure for the hospitality industry, which is among the sectors most affected by the global health crisis, although the state has been announcing special measures for hoteliers and the logistics sector since the beginning of the state of emergency.
The average percentage of occupied beds in Belgrade hotels on 1 July this year was 16.12% and 19.44% in Novi Sad, according to data collated by HORES, the association of hotel and catering companies.
(Nova Ekonomija, 21.08.2020)
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