Hoteliers demand extension in timings, easing of vaccine norm

People enjoy a meal at Aswad Hotel in August this year. File pic

As the state government moves ahead with further relaxations of opening up schools and religious places, hotel and restaurant owners have now demanded further extension in the timings and relaxation of the norm of only allowing fully vaccinated staff to work. The Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) has written to the government regarding the same.

About a month-and-a-half ago, hotels and restaurants across the state were allowed to start operating till 10 pm. However, now they want the timing to be extended for all days of the week, as per the licence held by establishments. The Association has also demanded that the government should relax the norm of staff being fully vaccinated.

As per data, 30 per cent of the hotels and restaurants in the country have shut down permanently due to financial losses, over 20 per cent still haven't opened fully and the remaining 50 per cent are running in losses.

However, things are looking up for the state with about 3 crore of the population having received at least one dose of the vaccine and the number of cases steadily declining. "For businesses like restaurants, the curtailed timings of 7 am to 10 pm is just not viable, so we request the government to restore the timings as per the license of each establishment on all days of the week," said Sherry Bhatia, president, HRAWI.

"We also request the government to be considerate and provide hotels and restaurants relaxations in the condition of having their staff fully vaccinated for resuming operations. They should allow hotels and restaurants to undertake the pending vaccinations, if any, in a gradual manner," said Pradeep Shetty, senior vice president, HRAWI.

7am-10pm
Current operational timings of restaurants