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Tourism workers associations have estimated that thousands of workers in the sector have lost their jobs today due to the problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. They ask the authorities to find a solution as soon as possible and ask for an urgent appointment with the new Minister of Commerce, Tourism and Telecommunications, Tatjana Matić. The Ministry recalls that they have already taken certain measures and assures that they are trying to help out of the crisis.
According to an analysis by travel agency associations, some 4,000 workers should have received their workbooks today. Its representatives say they have been warning about that scenario since May.
One of the agency owners who is forced to send employees to the labor office is the vice president of the Association of Serbian Travel Agencies.
“The shopping centers were closed during the state of emergency, as well as my branch located in the Makedonska shopping center. When we were able to enter the stores, we were greeted with all the bills, which also had to be paid, regardless of the fact that we did not go to the shopping centers. “We could lay off the workers and myself, just reducing company costs is my priority right now,” says Dragan Kacar.
The aid provided by the state, however welcome it may be, was not enough and long-term, they say in the National Association of Tourist Organizations of Serbia.
“You received help from three minimum wages, during that time you had to pay three more minimum wages and six months of contributions that expire on January 1. As I said, we have no liquidity, no money, and no work. Regrettably. We, and these other workers who remained in the travel agencies at this time, can hope to stop working until the new year ”, estimates Aleksandar Seničić.
A particularly important problem for agencies are the bank guarantees required for licensing, which are said to be the most important in Europe, as well as insurance policies without which business cannot legally be done and which they estimate, they are abnormally expensive. They are determined by categories, so the lowest must pay a fixed price of up to 1,000 passengers, or about 8,000 euros.
“What is happening to us with kovid-19, then we certainly will not be able to work for a few more months, and we will pay for some policies, and we will not have passengers. I don’t know why those policies are like that,” said Gordana Prodić from the Independent Association. . travel agencies of Serbia.
The response of the Ministry of Tourism is that they understand the seriousness of the situation and that they are trying to find a solution commensurate with the possibilities. As far as policy is concerned, it is exclusively about the business relationship between the insurer and the travel organizer, and although the objective of all is the survival of the business, it is equally important that passengers travel through reliable agencies, added the ministry.
Likewise, we must not forget that at the proposal of the Ministry, the Government adopted the Decree on the offer of a substitute trip to a trip that was canceled or not made due to kovid-19 disease and thus avoided the bankruptcy of travel agencies and the dismissal of its employees in March 2020.. year “, they say in the ministry.
Agency representatives say that to survive, sector aid in the form of non-reimbursable financial injections, a simpler and faster procedure for obtaining development loans, cancellation of taxes and contributions for the first two rounds of aid carried out until moment, as well as changes in the regulation on mandatory guarantees. .
They hope to be able to speak with the authorities soon, who, they complain, have not responded to their letters so far.
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