Tourism Federation Says Unemployment in Hotels and Restaurants Hits 60%

The federation said the coronavirus pandemic has frozen tourism activity. It said the tourism industry is sector most affected and would be the last to recover.

“Around 50,000 workers in the sea-coast area are facing a dramatic situation as their unemployment aid ended on April 1 and they were left with zero income. These workers have six-month employment contracts and may not benefit from unemployment aid in 2020 because they no longer meet contribution criteria,” said Dragos Raducan, executive vice-president of the tourism federation.

Employers in the tourism sector have called for urgent legislation changes to allow employees of seasonal business to benefit from unemployment aid. Then federation has urged the government to reduce the required contribution period to eight months to allow seasonal workers to collect unemployment this year.