We welcome the relief package announced by the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan amid the coronavirus outbreak. We believe it will help the industry in fending off some of the impacts of this deadly pandemic on the business and industry as well as on the common man.
We want to invite the attention of the honourable Prime Minister towards the apathy of the Hotel Industry which is one of the “direct” affectees of the economic disaster brought upon by the deadly virus and the unfolding situation. Not only the hotels have fallen empty, but all kinds of activities including food business,!meetings & conferences, and other banquet events have also all dried up leaving the hotels without any resources to pay salaries to their staff and other expenses.
This has bought the industry on the verge of collapse and since the impact on the hotel industry will go beyond the recovery from this pandemic, it is all but certain that many hotels in the country will shut down forever which will not be good for the tourism industry of Pakistan in particular and for the country’s economy and reputation in general. The ensuing unemployment will be another stain on the face of the country as there are hundreds of thousands of persons whose livelihood is directly or indirectly connected to the Hotel industry.
We therefore urge the honourable Prime Minister to immediately come to the rescue of the hotel industry in the form of a special package with taxes and duties exemptions, interest-free long term loans with grace period of two years, exemption from utility bills for a period of six months and financial aid for the payment of staff salaries and other expenses. This will give the industry some breathing space and will help it in standing up back on its feet.
We are certain that the government fully understands the gravity of the situation of the dwindling Hotel industry and will come to its rescue at this crucial moment.
