Keynote by Marie Audren, Managing Director of Hotrec: "This is the first time such a mobilization has been put in place, and we must continue."
HOTREC represents the hotel, restaurant and café sector at the European institutions. Today, the association represents members in 33 countries of the European continent, including 45 national associations.
HOTREC's objective is to ensure that European legislation and actions enable progress to be made, to work better and to ensure that the hotel sector benefits from Europe solidarity and cooperation.
The Covid-19 crisis is a global, but also a European crisis, which can be an opportunity to highlight the importance of tourism for the European economy. According to the European Commission, it corresponds to more than 40% in volume of world tourism (between 11 and 12% of European GDP and 12 million jobs). Consequently, it is very important to help this impacted sector to recover and be more resilient for the future.
The European Union has reacted in a strong way, by setting up measures to support businesses, notably through exemptions from charges, VAT reductions, compensation for lost turnover and short time working.
HOTREC is also mobilized on the lack of coordination concerning the opening of borders, which has a strong impact on the sector and on the implementation of fast testing. The challenge is to restore the confidence of European citizens and travellers.
