Benidorm suspends until 2021 the rate of tables and chairs to mitigate the situation of the hospitality industry

Benidorm City Council is going to definitively suspend the collection of the fee for the installation of tables and chairs corresponding to the period between March 14 and December 31, to "mitigate the situation that the hospitality sector is experiencing. restoration as a consequence of the Covid-19 crisis, especially after the latest measures adopted by the health authorities that affect their activity in a special way ”. This has been announced today by the mayor, Toni Pérez, who has advanced that "the government team will take a motion to the next plenary session to modify the ordinance that governs this rate."

The mayor recalled that "on March 23, just 9 days after the state of alarm was announced, we already decreed to suspend the settlement of this rate until the reopening of the establishments was allowed."

Since the hotel business was resumed, he explained, “we have been very attentive to how the situation evolved and in permanent contact with the sector. We know your uncertainty in the current and future situation, and also the difficulties you are going through; and for this reason and in view of the latest events we have decided to suspend the collection of this rate from the entry into force of the state of alarm and until the end of the year ”.

Toni Pérez has stressed that “from minute one of this pandemic, the City Council, to the extent of its possibilities and within the framework of its powers, has tried to help the sector and contribute to its recovery with measures such as: making the provision of the terraces so that establishments could guarantee safety distances without losing tables, or pedestrianize some streets to gain space for tables and chairs ”.

In addition, "the City Council offered the establishments free disinfection of facades and terraces, an option that hundreds of them took advantage of". On the economic level, "municipal aid has been articulated to alleviate the economic consequences that Covid-19 has had and, in many cases, continues to have for companies, SMEs and freelancers."

By legal imperative, the City Council must issue a proportional settlement to the establishments for the period elapsed between January 1 and the entry into force of the state of alarm; a period in which they exercised their activity normally.