Eight tables on the sidewalk, in front of the shop window. And inside at least 60 square meters which include, the room with the counter and a small room at the back. The bar of Mario Alonso it is located in a central and touristic area of Barcelona, in an open space full of life, not far from Placa d’Espanya. It opens early in the morning and when it was possible it did not close until late at night: “Spanish and foreign tourists but also many people from the neighborhood: there was always a few customers to serve, even in winter the tables were never empty, from coffee to breakfast, until the last one cane of beer, ”says the owner, who runs the business with his wife.
Covid has caused tourism to collapse: in Spain in 2020 arrivals from abroad fell by 78% with a tremendous impact on all activities – from hotels to restaurants, from small businesses to transport – which thrived thanks to visitor spending. The Barcelona area was among the hardest hit by the crisis, with an average decline in tourism-related activities of more than 80 percent.
Loading…
Soft loan and layoffs
Emigrated from Seville when he was a boy, 61 years old, Mr. Alonso tries to look ahead: «The situation is still serious, we all know it, but up to now we have managed to get away with it, both in the chaos of last March and in the following months. But without the loan facilitated by the state and without the aid for the redundancy fund, we would have been forced to fire our two employees, one full-time and the other part-time ».
Barcelona experienced the spring of 2020 in total lockdown and then breathed in the summer, before being overwhelmed by successive waves of the virus again. “We were closed for at least two months, then we still had to adapt to the restrictions: distancing, curfew and all the rest. We have not been working at full capacity for a year now: in 2020 we have lost at least 40% of our usual income, this year we hope to recover from June onwards, but if all goes well we will make half of the revenues of 2019. And with the accounts are barely even ».
It is difficult to extract from the Alonso family all the details on the losses suffered and the aid received and even the names they ask to report are not their real names: «What we had to say, we told our trade associations. They know what we need, just look around, not only the bars but also the clothing stores, the artisans, in this area one in three businesses had to give up and lower the shutter ».