Nightclub owners throughout Andalusia are afraid as new proposed Covid entry regulations may result in further closures for the nightlife sector.
In recent months, nightclub owners have warned that proposed entry rules would devastate the sector as young people, who make up the majority of their clientele, have yet to complete their full vaccination regime.
Owners have reported feeling like the nightlife sector has been particularly neglected by the government since the pandemic began.
Most bars and discotheques have yet to financially recover after more than a year of intense restrictions, with many establishments having closed their doors altogether.
Proposed measures from the Junta de Andalusia to require a Covid certificate as an entry condition for nightclubs has yet again rocked the sector.
Juan Rambla, the vice-president of Andalusia de Noche and the president of Malaga de Noche, told 101 Television News that, while the measures may not seem bad, “a deadline has not been established to apply it, nor has consensus been sought with the professionals of the sector”.
Rambla added: “There is no deadline for the population that we have to ask for the digital certificate to have the opportunity to be vaccinated”. According to the Region Ministry of Health, the latest reports show that only 18.2 percent of Andalusians aged 20-29 are fully vaccinated, and only 16.9 percent are fully vaccinated in Malaga.
The wait for young people to get fully vaccinated may take weeks, weeks that nightclubs and the nightlife sector cannot afford.
The Andalusia de Noche has ordered that the regional administration’s proposal be approved by the courts, and that any restrictions on capacity and opening hours be removed.
“If we are going to create safe spaces within our establishments, we do not understand why we continue to maintain the restrictions we currently have”, explained Rambla. He also admitted to 101 Televisión that they are “tired of seeing how there are continually private and clandestine parties all over the place, where there is no compliance with any kind of measures”.
The sector believes that current increases in case numbers are the result of mass gatherings of young people, both in private and in public, including nightclub venues.
“It is much better for the public to be in our premises and not at these clandestine parties. We insist on legislating with our backs to reality. The reality is that young people don’t want to go to bed at two in the morning”, and based on this argument, Andalucía de Noche asks the Junta to remove the rest of the restrictions if the covid certificate requirement is definitively applied,” he said.
