The hotel and catering industry proposes a four-year plan to Madrid’s management to improve its competitiveness
You not only have to be something, you have to look like something. And although the hotel and catering industry-Madrid has emerged stronger from the health crisis, it still has a lot to prove for the central community to be considered a national benchmark. Its contribution to the regional GDP is already 7% and it is one of the activities that pulls the economic cart, but its professionals highlight the need to promote actions to improve the competitiveness of hotel and catering establishments in the region.
Under this premise, the main associations of the sector have held the first working meetings with the recently created Directorate General for Tourism and Hotel and Catering, integrated into the regional government’s cabinet since 5 July. As Sivarious advanced, this figure comes from the representatives of the sector themselves, who, given the strategic importance in tourism and in the regional economy, demanded a direct dialogue.
The first meeting took place a few days ago between the heads of Hostelería Madrid, the Vice-Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sport of the Community of Madrid, Daniel Martínez, and the Director General of Tourism and Hotel Management, Luis Martín Izquierdo. At the meeting, the latter were presented with a document containing the issues of greatest concern to the sector in terms of town planning, heritage protection, licences and opening hours, health and the environment, together with the pressing problem of the lack of staff and management of training in the hotel and catering industry.
The sector’s concerns focus on aspects such as licensing, opening hours and health and safety.
“The management of waste in the hotel and catering industry, the frequency of waste collection and the limitations of space in the premises for this management, were other issues addressed at the meeting, and on which subsequent meetings were scheduled with the respective technical teams of both entities”, according to the regional employers’ association.
On the other hand, in its desire to build bridges of collaboration and expand its associative work to the maximum, Hotelería Madrid has proposed a four-year work plan to the Regional Ministry. The roadmap proposed by the regional hoteliers focuses on their main demands, together with specific proposals for the promotion, activation and enhancement of the wide range of hospitality offerings in the community. These are lines of work that have also been drawn up by Marcas de Restauración.
“The idea is to maintain a preferential relationship with them as the most representative association of the sector and, moreover, at a community level. In this sense, we will share proposals and future actions to enhance the value of the Madrid hotel and catering industry”, explains José Antonio Aparicio, president of Hostelería Madrid, in relation to what he defines as a perfect harmony. “The new team wants to work hard to defend our SMEs and the self-employed and we have guaranteed them absolute collaboration to do so”.
In this way, a permanent collaboration is sought for the new legislature, offering itself as a preferential interlocutor for the sector as the most representative and established association at community level. The association specifies that “both entities have agreed to organise joint activities and campaigns to promote the hotel and catering industry and local products in the different municipalities of the region, as well as to raise awareness and dignify the hotel and catering profession in order to attract talent and build, between all of us, a professionalised sector with the capacity for professional progress for our young people”.
