ÖHV President fears many hotel bankruptcies – salzburg.ORF.at
business
The new boss of the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV) wants to take hard lines against black sheep at apres-ski parties. Walter Veit from Obertauern (Pongau/Lungau) also expects numerous companies to go bankrupt due to the CoV crisis – a “market shakeout”. He is demanding massive tax relief from politicians.
Veit presented his ideas as the new president of the ÖHV on Tuesday morning in Vienna. Anyone who organizes illegal apres-ski parties these days and weeks is a shame for the entire industry. The hotelier demands that black sheep have to pay back all CoV aid money from the state.
Also fierce criticism of authorities
The new head of the association also sees the failure of many authorities and refers to the example of the apres-ski party in Kitzbühel (Tiroler Unterland), which has often been criticized in recent days. There, the boss of a neighboring company informed the police about such parties a total of seven times. According to Veit, no action was taken.
“Banks will pull the emergency brake”
Basically, the man from Salzburg assumes that the CoV crisis will not be halfway over until 2024. Currently, every seventh hotel in Austria has already closed. In addition, there are many who are intended to be permanently closed: “The market shakeout will definitely take place. Even before the crisis, around 30 percent of companies in difficult situations were affected. If balance sheets are deep in the red now, banks will have to pull the emergency brake. And there will be a loss of many colleagues.”
The occupancy rate in the local hotels is currently falling, according to the ÖHV President. For January it is only a good 30 percent. It will hardly get any better in February and March.