Above all, however, hosts demand predictability. A short-term cancellation of a restaurant opening would be fatal.
“We expect opening steps to take place on March 15th.” In the ORF program Hohes Haus, Chamber of Commerce Secretary General Karlheinz Kopf was confident that the catering and hotel industry will be able to open in mid-March. But in the end, politics decide, so Kopf.
And she is currently cautious. The date for openings for landlords and hoteliers will probably move back from mid-March – not necessarily until Easter, but even that cannot be ruled out, writes the press , for example. It is conceivable that there will be the first gentle easing in the second half of March – initially, for example, by only opening the pub gardens.
Today the government is consulting with experts, the opposition and state governors which opening steps can be dared. For the foreseeable future probably only very small ones (see article below)
“I'm not a denier of reality”
The hosts hope for further easing in March, ideally in the middle of the month. “We expect that a specific time will be given. Postponing again without a date would not be acceptable,” said gastronomy chairman Mario Pulker on Monday at the APA.
He was “very excited” about the results of today's deliberations, but: “I've never had such an uncertain feeling,” said Pulker. “I'm not a denier of reality.” He admitted that the number of infections is increasing, but attributes this to the many corona tests. New infections are over 2,000 again, but the number of hospital admissions and the utilization of intensive care units are still low. The ratio is different from that in autumn, because the many tests also reveal mild and asymptomatic infections.
The landlord's representative thinks March is a good time to open, as many seasonal businesses would no longer or not yet open anyway. Many restaurants that are dependent on tourists also remained closed. The easing will therefore initially only affect year-round farms.
What is definitely not possible would be to offer a loosening, but then to cancel it at short notice. So if an opening were allowed on March 15th, the date would have to hold. “Unlocking and locking up is deadly, the factories are all the more dead,” explained Pulker. It takes around ten days to buy goods from wholesalers and to bring employees back from short-time work or from the AMS, says Pulker.
The trade association pushed for an all-or-nothing strategy on Monday. The government would have to make a clear decision. “Either all companies and institutions are allowed to unlock immediately or we will all go into a complete lockdown again until after Easter. The figures show that half measures are increasingly counterproductive,” said Peter Lieber, President of the Austrian Trade Association.
“We are convinced, however, that this decision can only be called” Unlock! “It remains inexplicable that, despite clever prevention concepts, restaurants, theaters or hotels are not allowed to open.”
