The Minister of Tourism and Sports, Matias Lammens, assured this Tuesday that the Government “does not” plan to “suspend the season”, but assured that the State will “reinforce its presence” and apply “some specific restrictions for specific situations” because, “with individual responsibility, no reached ”to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“The State is going to have to keep a more vehement eye on this type of situation”, said the official in statements made this morning to the América TV channel, referring to crowds and clandestine parties, which are pointed out with greater concern as sources of expansion of the disease.
He emphasized that “The season is not going to be suspended, but to control it more” with “some kind of restriction, especially at night because it is a situation that is occurring throughout the country.”
In this sense, Lammens gave as an example a series of measures adopted by the Municipality of Villa Gesell, where – he pointed out – no photo with large crowds of people on the beach or night parties was seen.
“The mayor (Gustavo Barrera) did not allow people to enter the beach between 22 and 6 in the morning, which I think is a sensible measure, and, in addition, it imposed fines in the houses where it was clandestine parties “, added.
Lammens, who yesterday met with Governor Axel Kicillof, asserted that there are municipalities that have taken similar measures “and have the situation under control,” which will ensure that they extend to other districts that concentrate a large number of tourists.
“We are going to have to act from the national government and surely from the provincial one so that they are implemented in all municipalities”, he indicated.
Lammens reflected that, “to some extent, there is a defiant attitude from a part of society” that does not respect sanitary measures or responsible individual responsibility.
“The virus has no ideology, it is not who is in favor and who is against it, and, when you review what is happening around the world, for example in Europe, everyone is in a very complicated situation and everyone has taken measures of extreme restriction, ”he added.
“We do not want to take that type of restriction,” he continued, “but for that, we Argentines have to understand that we have to take care of ourselves, that to have a good summer season, to be able to go on vacation more, to be able to rest with our families. , we have to take care of ourselves a lotHe insisted.
Regarding the gastronomic sector, which he described as “a great generator of employment”, the minister said that today he was talking about the issue with the Chief of Staff, Santiago Cafiero, so that the measures that are adopted are carried out respecting the schedules of that activity “in order to compensate everything they lost this year ”.
“There are a lot of Argentines who depend on what happens with gastronomy, so this is going to be one of those issues that we are going to consider when making the decision,” Lammens completed.
Regarding the season itself, the official said that “there are a lot of people”, as shown by the application Verano, which until yesterday, January 4, showed “that more than 500 thousand people came to the coast, while that there are more than 1,200,000 people throughout the country who registered the trip ”.
“Occupancy levels vary: in some places they are higher than 70 or 80%; in others, close to 50% ”, he assured.
However, it stated that “There is a problem with the hotel industry because many people decide not to go to hotels, so it is the sector that is suffering the most”he added.