Hotels would open with 50% capacity and increase gradually
Once the health authorities set the reopening date, the hotel sector will begin at 50% of its capacity, according to the roadmap designed by the private sector.
According to the schedule set by the Government, the hotel sector and airlines are in block 4 without a specific date.
The hotel sector is designing the guidelines that the lodging centers will follow once the quarantine is lifted, such as the use of masks and cleaning processes.
Armando Rodríguez, president of the Panamanian Hotel Association (Apatel), commented that they are waiting for the authorities to determine when they can open.
"We need a date to decide how many staff we are going to require to operate the restaurant, lodging and other public areas within each hotel", he said.
According to the schedule designed by the private sector, in the first 30 days after resuming operations, the hotels would do so with 50% of their capacity in all their areas including restaurants, and after 60 days they would rise to 75%.
Rodríguez pointed out that 100% or the return to pre- coronavirus levels (Covid-19), would be reached when there is an effective treatment or the respective vaccine. The hotel and air sectors will be the last to recover from the respiratory pandemic due to the border closure in most countries.
Apatel suggests a gradual opening of the sector since there will be areas of the country that will have to continue to be closed due to the number of positive cases. Likewise, they insist on the flexibility of soft loans, because a significant number of stores will need financing to resume operations.
Rodríguez believes that the labor issue should be kept on the agenda, because at first it will not be possible to employ all the collaborators they had in February.
The hotel sector is designing the guidelines that the lodging centers will follow once the quarantine is lifted, such as the use of masks and cleaning processes.
Armando Rodríguez, president of the Panamanian Hotel Association (Apatel), commented that they are waiting for the authorities to determine when they can open.
"We need a date to decide how many staff we are going to require to operate the restaurant, lodging and other public areas within each hotel", he said.
According to the schedule designed by the private sector, in the first 30 days after resuming operations, the hotels would do so with 50% of their capacity in all their areas including restaurants, and after 60 days they would rise to 75%.
Rodríguez pointed out that 100% or the return to pre- coronavirus levels (Covid-19), would be reached when there is an effective treatment or the respective vaccine. The hotel and air sectors will be the last to recover from the respiratory pandemic due to the border closure in most countries.
Apatel suggests a gradual opening of the sector since there will be areas of the country that will have to continue to be closed due to the number of positive cases. Likewise, they insist on the flexibility of soft loans, because a significant number of stores will need financing to resume operations.
Rodríguez believes that the labor issue should be kept on the agenda, because at first it will not be possible to employ all the collaborators they had in February.