The revenue of hotels and restaurants in Sevastopol was halved, and establishments began to close. Business asks authorities for large-scale assistance

Representatives of the tourism and restaurant industry of Sevastopol appealed to regional and federal authorities with a request to provide large-scale support measures against the backdrop of the fuel, logistics and energy crisis. Local media write about this.

Entrepreneurs are asking for wage subsidies, preferential loans, tax breaks and payment deferrals, warning that without help, tens of thousands of jobs will be at risk.

The proposals were prepared by the Union of Restaurateurs of Sevastopol and the Union of Hospitality and Tourism after an extraordinary meeting of industry representatives. On June 20, the organizations sent the so-called “road map” with eleven support measures to the “governor” of Sevastopol and federal departments.

In particular, the business proposes to pay employers subsidies in the amount of the minimum wage for each employee while retaining the majority of the staff, provide credit holidays for up to two years, launch preferential lending and a regional loan program at two to five percent per annum, reduce rates on property tax, land tax and a simplified taxation system, defer rent and pension payments, return the tourist cashback program and reduce the cost of train tickets to Sevastopol by 30-50%.

According to industry associations, about thirty-five thousand people are at risk of dismissal in the tourism sector of Sevastopol. Entrepreneurs claim that hotel and restaurant revenues in June fell by about half compared to the same period last year, and hotel occupancy fell to 80%. Many enterprises, they said, took out loans to prepare for the summer season and pay taxes, hoping to offset the costs due to the high tourist flow, but these plans did not materialize.

According to the chairman of the Union of Restaurateurs of Sevastopol, Maria Florinskaya, about fifteen thousand people work in the city’s restaurant industry alone, and the state, in the event of mass layoffs, will not be able to quickly provide them with work comparable in terms of pay.

An additional blow to the industry was the restrictions introduced on June 22: public catering establishments were prohibited from operating after twenty hours. Representatives of the restaurant business claim that it was the evening that brought in up to 60% of daily revenue. According to restaurant manager Daria Sagina, only on the first day after the introduction of new rules, three establishments closed in the city.

In addition to financial assistance, entrepreneurs are asking for restaurants to return to their previous operating hours - until 10-11 p.m. They claim that they are ready to independently adapt to new conditions, including paying employees for taxis in order to comply with current restrictions, but consider a complete ban on evening work to be excessive. As an example, businesses cite the occupied part of the Donetsk region, where, according to them, establishments work longer, as well as the neighboring region of Crimea, where similar restrictions were not introduced.

Entrepreneurs warn that without government support, a significant part of the enterprises in the tourism industry of Sevastopol may cease to operate in the near future.