Valencian chefs and their teams, along with the Valencian restaurant industry as a whole, have been fully committed this past month and a half to helping those affected. They continue to cook, through the NGO World Central Kitchen, coordinated by José Andrés, to deliver hot meals to residents in locations like Paiporta, the epicenter of the flood that devastated Valencia. However, they are starting to see how the impact is not only affecting the flooded businesses.
During the month of November, reservations in the hospitality sector have plummeted “drastically,” as pointed out by the Business Federation of Hospitality in Valencia. They estimate that hospitality revenue has dropped between 75% and 85% during the month of November.
The workers of World Central Kitchen worked in the space provided by the City Council of València during the first weeks after the cold drop
“We are also affected, ours is a collateral damage. We have focused on helping people, but it is true that restaurants have been severely affected,” explains Germán Carrizo, chef of Fierro in Valencia, with one Michelin star, and currently responsible for the coordinated aid organized by José Andrés' NGO from the Tourism Development Center (CDT) in Valencia. The issue concerns Valencian hoteliers, from the smallest to the gastronomic references of the city, as tourism is an important economic driver.
Hotel billing fell between 75% and 85% during the month of November in Valencia
That was discussed on Wednesday at the reception hosted by the mayor of València, María José Catalá, for chefs such as Ricard Camarena, Begoña Rodrigo, and Carrizo himself, among others, in honor of the awards received at the Green Guide Gala held in València this week. With awards to Rodrigo as the female vegetarian chef of the year, to Ricard Camarena's restaurant as the sixth best vegetable restaurant, and also Carrizo's Fierro establishment received an award as a revelation in the category of the best vegetables in the world.
The three establishments are representative spaces of Valencian gastronomy, with two, one, and one Michelin star respectively. They have also noticed how diners have been disappearing from their tables after the shock caused by the floods. “We have estimated losses due to cancellations of 30,000 euros in the three businesses we manage, and there are colleagues pointing to losses of up to 600,000 euros,” explains Carrizo to *La Vanguardia*. Carrizo also emphasizes the importance of sending the message abroad that tourism in València is thriving because “we need people to keep coming to the restaurants.” Additionally, Hostelería Valencia has calculated that the damages caused by the cold drop in over 1,400 bars and restaurants in 78 municipalities of the province amount to more than 300 million euros.
We have calculated losses of 30,000 euros due to cancellations in the three businesses we manage”
The Valencia region's Confederation of Business and Tourism (CONHOSTUR), in collaboration with Hostelería Valencia and Turisme Comunitat Valenciana, is launching a national campaign to revitalize tourism and attract visitors to Valencia's hospitality establishments.
Through a message of optimism and gratitude to the hoteliers, who are highlighted for “from the very beginning they are devoted to cooking and distributing food among the thousands of people who had lost everything,” they encourage national tourists to visit Valencia during this Christmas season “and once again fill the tables.”
The campaign will target national tourists, with a special emphasis on Madrid. There will be posters with the word “gracias” distributed on various outdoor advertising platforms in the capital. It will remind people that enjoying Valencian gastronomy also means “helping to reactivate the economy and supporting thousands of families who directly or indirectly depend on this activity.” In fact, the sector's campaign adds to the municipal one launched by the city council a week ago under the slogan “Seeing you in València brightens our hearts,” which includes 50 tourism promotion activities in 22 countries.
The municipal promotion campaign represents an investment of 1.5 million euros and includes an action plan to promote the affected districts as a tourist product of the city, expanding the “Neighborhood Tourism” program that already sought to decentralize tourist interest in other areas of Valencia. This initiative has been leading the traveler's recommendations lists with significant growth in international tourism for several years. Areas like El Palmar, a town located in l'Albufera where the environmental damage is still being assessed, also rely on tourists, both national and international, who discover their paellas and landscapes. They are all now being targeted because “the wheel must keep turning.”
