Life Matters | Sep 02,2023
It is hard to tell from its façade, but the hotel and hospitality industry is not well. Devastated by a steep decline in occupancy rates, the management of Ambassador Hotel has been forced to shave off departments and, with a few exceptions, furlough its employees with pay. In this, the Hotel is not alone.
A crisis that primarily afflicts businesses dependent on the physical movement of people, the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has badgered few as hard as the hotel industry. In the depression that has ensued, hoteliers have been forced into cutting costs to keep themselves afloat. For this, they turned to the one commodity that is in abundant supply - labour. If employers are not laying off their employees, they are slashing benefits and salaries.
With their livelihoods on the line, employees are fighting back. Despite being aware of the circumstances of their employers, they charge that the support for the industry from the government has not trickled down to them. This is in reference to a 3.3-billion-Br soft loan that was pledged by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) to the industry for the next six months starting in May.
This is support that remains a pledge, according to the employers, who claim they still have not had the loans cleared from the banks due to procedures they must finalise to qualify. In this back and forth dance between employees, hoteliers and banks, 14 hotels have started laying off employees, according to the Ethiopian Hotel Professionals Association.
Facing an abyss, players in the industry agree on one thing, nonetheless. "The government is the last resort," as one expert puts it.
You can read the full story here
PUBLISHED ON
Jun 06,2020 [ VOL
21 , NO
1049]
Life Matters | Sep 02,2023
Radar |
Featured | Sep 08,2024
Obituary | Mar 26,2022
Radar | Feb 23,2019
Life Matters | Dec 14,2024
Obituary | Apr 03,2021
Fortune News | Jul 11,2021
Editorial | Sep 21, 2024
Obituary | Jan 16,2021
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
May 17 , 2025
Ethiopia pours more than three billion Birr a year into academic research, yet too mu...
May 10 , 2025
Federal legislators recently summoned Shiferaw Teklemariam (PhD), head of the Disaste...
May 3 , 2025
Pensioners have learned, rather painfully, the gulf between a figure on a passbook an...
Apr 26 , 2025
Benjamin Franklin famously quipped that “nothing is certain but death and taxes....
Loading your updates...