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Expectations and rehiring in hotels weighed down by the omicron

The recovery of Hotels Regarding 2019 figures, it could be extended for up to 48 more months, according to the main stakeholders. The expectations of restoration to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 (38.7%) and 2024 (37.3%) occupy more than two thirds of those surveyed by the abanZa agency and FNSrooms, in their recent report “Situation of the hotel sector in Peru and future perspectives”.

According to the survey of 75 managers, representatives of more than 250 accommodations of national and international chains throughout the country, the readjustment of expenses, the reduction of personnel and the competition of lower prices were the strongest challenges received until last December, despite the fact that at least 72% of its hotels returned to work throughout the year.

Opinions around the influx of travelers in 2022 are mixed. 50.7% estimate that the evolution of tourist occupancy and traffic will grow between 30% and 59% in 2022, while the most enthusiastic, only 12%, point to a 60% improvement in arrivals on the line. Pessimism, meanwhile, reigns among at least a third of the hotel businessmen surveyed (33.3%), who point to a brief improvement of between 5% and 29% in the midst of the pandemic.

This situation, of course, has an impact on income expectations compared to 2019, three years ago. 52% of the hoteliers surveyed estimated that their income in 2021 would be much lower, with losses of up to 70%, compared to the year without the virus, where Lima 2019 was also held.

On the other shore, only 8% consider that they will be able to overcome and exceed what they earned at that time, along with 6.7% who believe that it will be “well above”, leveraged by the advancement of vaccination and the opening of airports in the world. What the majority does agree on is that earnings will have high volatility, since only another 8% consider that they will have a similar financial close in 2022.

empty rooms

This pessimism in the first quarter of 2022 is not surprising, since the average spending ticket among foreign tourists is much higher than that of locals and, in 2021, they did not represent more than 20% of occupied rooms. Instead, the offer was supported by Peruvian travelers.

Thus, 77% responded that the national market exceeds the foreign market by over 60% or 40%. While for 12% the foreign market was the main one for their hotels.

The general manager of the Society of Hotels of Peru (SHP), Tibisay Monsalve, explained to La República that, although the ticket per tourist improved in the last quarter of the outgoing year, nothing bodes well for a positive curve today.

“We end 2021 hoping to find a better scenario, thanks to the development of vaccination. But now that the omicron appeared, everything fell apart, it’s a catastrophe. Employability is going down again due to issues related to canceled flights, sick crews, infected hotel staff, etc. ”, he said.

The recovery of employment in the sector is a separate chapter. The study indicates that, even though 80% of hotels have rehired the staff they sent to perfect suspension, only 18.7% did so in its entirety, and more than 30% have rehired no more than one in five workers placed under that figure.

This, despite the fact that 49.3% received some type of aid from the State, such as Reactiva Peru.

While, the other 46.7% did not receive any private or public aid, which caused them to face the crisis with their own resources, “weakening their financial structures, which were stable at the time.”

“We have two factors today: health and the low arrival of businessmen, our largest segment. Most companies are not coming, and as long as the political issue is not defined, it will be difficult to resume development. But it is not a problem now, before the pandemic we were already affected by changes in presidents and even municipal disputes,” Monsalve notes.

Tourism does not finish taking off

The SHP considers that the connectivity works and the completion of the Jorge Chávez airport terminal will be essential to encourage the tourism industry in the medium term.

Nevertheless, the biggest concern of customers is flexible cancellation policies (77.3%), for which many chains and hotels have applied reforms to adapt to the changing circumstances that have generated the different waves of COVID-19 by countries, according to abanZa.

According to the report, among those hotels with lower levels of occupancy and income, the new multitasking profiles that employees must cover stand out.

The word

Tibisay Monsalve, general manager of the SHP

“Although hotels are hiring again, they are not doing so at such rapid rates because occupancy remains low. This 2022 we visualized up to 55% of it, but now we don’t know.”

The numbers

22 million internal tourists are expected for this 2022, according to Canatur.

40% of respondents were unable to invest in technology upgrades in 2021.

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