Portugal's restaurant sector in dire straits

&amp;NewLine;<p>According to the monthly survey by the Portuguese Association of Hotels&amp;comma; Restaurants and Similar &amp;lpar;AHRESP&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; nearly 40&amp;percnt; of catering businesses and 18&amp;percnt; of tourist accommodations intend to close their doors&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Portugal's restaurant industry in dire straits<&sol;h2>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;vivreauportugalconsulting&period;com&sol;les-mesures-economiques-au-portugal&sol;" class&equals;"rank-math-link">The pandemic<&sol;a> will have an adverse effect on the hotel and restaurant sector&amp;comma; 38&amp;percnt; of these companies are considering insolvency&amp;comma; as the vast majority of them declare that they will no longer be able to bear their usual expenses&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>The drop in sales in June was spectacular&amp;comma; with over 24&amp;percnt; of them recording losses in excess of 40&amp;percnt; and 22&amp;percnt; of them with annual losses in excess of 60&amp;percnt; and 12&amp;percnt; with a drop in excess of 90&amp;percnt;&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>According to<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;ahresp&period;com">AHRESP<&sol;a> 87&amp;percnt; of companies are using the Lay-off&amp;comma; 93&amp;percnt; of them extended it in May&amp;comma; 76&amp;percnt; in June and around 69&amp;percnt; intend to extend it until July&amp;period; 54&amp;percnt; of companies declare that without this aid&amp;comma; they were unable to pay salaries&amp;period; <&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>The survey also revealed that more than 17&amp;percnt; of companies were unable to make wage payments, and 15&amp;percnt; only partially paid their employees&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>AHRESP also indicates that over 22&amp;percnt; of companies believe they will not be able to retain all jobs by the end of the year&amp;comma; and 70&amp;percnt; of companies still don't know if they will be able to maintain their activities&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Tourist accommodations are no better off <&sol;h3>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>With regard to tourist accommodation businesses&amp;comma; until the end of June&amp;comma; 24&amp;percnt; of the businesses remained closed&amp;comma; over 47&amp;percnt; of them recorded no bookings and 41&amp;percnt; reported occupancy of up to 25&amp;percnt; maximum&amp;period; l&amp;rsquo&amp;semi; <&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Now that the summer period has begun &amp;lpar;July &amp;&amp;num;8211&amp;semi; September&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; it is already showing very worrying results&amp;comma; as 46&amp;percnt; of companies are not expecting an occupancy rate above 25&amp;percnt;&amp;period; In view of this scenario&amp;comma; 18&amp;percnt; of companies are considering going into compulsory liquidation&amp;comma; if they are unable to bear future expenses&amp;comma; and 45&amp;percnt; do not know whether they should go into insolvency or not&amp;period; <&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>At present&amp;comma; 42&amp;percnt; of companies have used the lay-off&amp;comma; 76&amp;percnt; have extended it until&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;in May &amp;comma; 70&amp;percnt; in June and around 60&amp;percnt; intend to extend it until&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;in July &amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p><strong>The AHRESP survey of companies took place between June 29 and July 1 and included 1,418 responses&amp;period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;