The harsh winter of the Balearic hotel industry: it is the autonomous community that destroys the most jobs

It lost more than 17,000 jobs in November, a 27% drop from the 15% statewide average. Only the self-employed remain.

The Balearic Islands is one of the autonomous communities who else will feel the economic effects of the pandemic this winter. Without going any further, the archipelago is already in the lead in terms of job destruction in the hospitality sector, according to the figures for the month of November. The Spanish hospitality industry lost 243,182 jobs compared to the same month of 2019, which represents a drop of 15.23%. The Balearic Islands is by far the community that has experienced the greatest drop: more than 17,000 jobs lost compared to a year ago, 27.5% less.

Thus, the Islands held 45,199 jobs in the hospitality sector last month, 33,494 in the general regime and another 11,705 in the autonomous regime. The global figure in 2019 was 62,389 jobs.

Interestingly, the number of self-employed persons registered with Social Security experienced a slight increase of just over 1%. The decline has been suffered by the volume of affiliates in the general regime, up to 34% less.

The community that has experienced the greatest decrease in affiliates after the Balearic Islands has been Murcia with an 18.32% drop, nine points less, which gives an idea of ​​the magnitude of the drop in the archipelago. At the opposite extreme is the Basque Country with only a 9.5% drop, followed by the Valencian Community with 10.9%. This is reflected in the data that the CCOO union released at the Hospitality Workers’ Global Action Week.

The hopes of a few months ago of being able to get some juice in the low season faded as the epidemiological evolution -in Spain and throughout Europe- made it clear that it would be necessary to wait at least until spring to register some volumes of activity really significant tourist attractions. As of today, the percentage of hotels open does not reach 20% of the total and the Balearic Islands is in fact the region that has seen the highest increase in hotels for sale since the start of the pandemic.

For its part, the catering sector is going through a rampant crisis evidenced by the decision of many establishments to hibernate in these months. According to data from PIMEM-Restauración, the volume of business that has closed its doors is close to 50% of all associates.

The Association of Restaurateurs of the Confederation of Business Associations of the Balearic Islands (CAEB-Restauración) denounced yesterday without going any further the difficult situation that the sector is experiencing and condemned some of the regulatory restrictions derived from the health crisis that in his opinion unjustifiably penalize his activity, such as limitations on the number of customers per table or the prohibition of smoking on the terraces.

In fact, the sector recently wanted to vindicate itself through a report from the Ministry of Health that minimizes its incidence in coronavirus infections. Specifically, this report figures in 3.5% of the total the percentage of infections originating in bars, cafes or restaurants, data that was put on the table as an argument to demand a relaxation of the restrictions on their businesses.

Likewise, from CAEB they complain that the state, regional and municipal administrations -the latter for the most part- have not fulfilled their promises of reductions in fiscal pressure. “Not only do we have everything against us, but there is no real help and there are many obstacles.”

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