CRISIS INTENSIFIES IN HOTEL SECTOR IN KUWAIT

  • 05/02/2022

Kuwait City: Many large hotels are set to close following a severe crisis in Covid expansion. The crisis flared up again as the cabinet tightened controls on Covid following the daily increase in cases. Hotels are reported to have lost more than 40 per cent of their revenue. Fahad al-Arbash, head of the Kuwait Federation of Hotel Associations, said many hotels were preparing to sell because of high debt. Al-Arbaaz, meanwhile, said the new regulation would not further affect home-delivery restaurants, such as dine-in restaurants. The hotel sector was the hardest hit by Covid's first and second wave. 


Many hoteliers have come forward demanding that they be allowed to sit and eat in shops in compliance with the Covid norms. The shopkeepers say that if the parcel alone is provided, the operating costs will not be met. In addition, the shortage of workers in the hotel sector is creating a major crisis in the sector. The number of employees has been reduced from ten to twenty to five or six. Most of the workers in the hotel sector had fled the country following the epidemic. 

Statistics show that even half of them have not returned. According to industry insiders, many small restaurants and hotels have been closed due to staff shortages. Earlier in the day, landlords were reluctant to allow rent reductions in the wake of the Covid crisis. Building owners are being treated harshly by hoteliers who demand lower rents. Some building owners also make the point that no one pays more rent in the months when sales are higher.

There has also been a sharp rise in the price of raw materials purchased by restaurants. Al-Arbash added that prices of many items had risen by 20 to 100 per cent over the past few months, adding that the price of edible oils had risen by 40 per cent compared to pre-Corona prices, while the price of butter had risen by 100 per cent over the past year. Fahad al-Arbash said the fact that restaurants could not raise menu prices without the approval of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry exacerbated the losses. 

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