MADRID, 20 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The National Federation of Sports Facilities Employers (FNEID) has asked the Interterritorial Health Council to eliminate the mandatory use of a mask during sports, the reduction of VAT to 10 percent and that young people can use it in gyms the cultural bonus.
In a statement sent to Europa Press, FNEID demanded the same treatment that is given to food and drink establishments, among others, during food intake and that sport and physical activity be recognized as a beneficial and essential activity for the people’s health.
For the federation, the abolition of the obligation to wear masks is a way to eliminate barriers and promote healthy lifestyle habits “so necessary” at this time. The fitness employers’ association argues that 15 percent of its users, representing 825,000 subscribers, have not returned to their facilities due to this measure.
Spain is the only country in Europe that maintains this restrictive measure, according to information from EuropeActive, and therefore FNEID urges the authorities to follow this example. In addition, there are already several Autonomous Communities that have adopted measures that make the mandatory use of masks more flexible during indoor sports practice, in the case of Murcia, Asturias, Navarra, Extremadura, Aragon and Catalonia.
In this sense, he recalled that the World Health Organization (WHO) advises against the use of masks during intense physical activity since oxygen availability decreases and CO2 levels increase.
“Our centers have demonstrated throughout all these pandemic months that they are safe spaces. We have been a responsible sector, we have collaborated from the beginning with the administrations and we have adapted our activity to the situation so that people could continue taking care of their health in our facilities. The data show that the incidence of infections has been practically zero in our activity, so we believe that it is essential that normality is returned to our facilities and the effect of the mask in our sector has a high negative impact, not like in other areas “, explained Alberto García Chápuli, manager of FNEID.
Although there is talk of the arrival of normality, for the fitness sector “it has not been like that”, according to García Chápuli. “As long as the mask is mandatory, our activity will not recover. Other sectors have reached normality in operations and billing, but that is not our case,” he said.
The measures established to alleviate the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic have had a “great impact” on the sector, denounced FNEID, which stressed that sports facilities and gyms in Spain have invoiced an average of 64 percent less in the twelve months after the start of the pandemic compared to the previous 12, as indicated by the study ‘Impact COVID-19 in Sports Facilities’, carried out by the Valgo consultancy in collaboration with the Gisdoras research group of the University of Seville.
These figures put “in clear risk” the survival of many facilities of a sector “essential for health”, since it promotes physical activity and strengthens the immune system, fundamental as the pandemic has shown.
Faced with this scenario, the employers demand the attention of the Government so that aid such as the cultural bonus are also applicable to sports services. On the other hand, it continues to demand the reduction of VAT to 10 percent, a tax rate typical of health-related services, and not to a 21 like luxury ones.
“Legislation reducing VAT to the practice of physical activity in sports centers and facilities is a way of raising awareness among the population about the importance of maintaining active lifestyles. Fiscal policy should encourage certain behaviors and penalize others. The Government has to decide what message do you want to send to society. This pandemic has shown that it is essential to move since sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor when it comes to suffering from diseases such as COVID-19, “argued the manager of FNEID.