Venezuela seeks to return to being the country of yesteryear, when it stood out among the most prosperous in the continent. He says “leisure” is giving his economy a helping hand, with fashion events and concerts.
In Venezuela have reported that the fashion and leisure industry they have jumped on the train of an economic recovery that -according to the government- started in the second half of 2021 and that promises to continue the escalation for try to return to being the country of yesteryear, when it stood out in the lists of the most prosperous region of.
These sectors, which are among those that have suffered the most from the crisis generated by the covid-19 pandemic, are now taking advantage of the economic momentum that the country is experiencing to recover part of the losses accumulated by the cancellation of concerts, theatrical events, festivals and parades. .
With these cancellations, thousands of jobs were affected, both direct and indirect, since, as event producer Félix Colmenares told Agencia EFE, simply in assembling a medium-sized stage for a musical performance, they participate among five and six companies, with about ten employees each.
The reactivation of the economy, which became more evident in the third quarter of 2021, began to be perceived in the leisure and events sector as late as the first part of 2022, with the programming of dozens of concerts of national and international bands.
Musical events
Although the pandemic was the definitive blow for the leisure sector, the music and artistic industry had already been in decline for more than five years, caused by the economic crisis as a result of the hyperinflation which made it difficult to hire artists, especially international ones.
But the dollarizationwhich has settled in the last two years, and the stability achieved by the national currency —the bolívar— since last October have made producers and artists regain confidence, after a critical stage in which losses were guaranteed when programming the events months in advance.
That time played against, since the devaluation of the bolivar made the initially set budget and the agreement reached between artists and producers unprofitable when it came to paying months later, since the currency suffered, in the best of cases, loss of value in percentages of up to four digits.
This obstacle was removed by set prices in dollarsregardless of the currency in which the payment is made, since it will be adjusted to the agreed amount in foreign currency, which will be canceled according to the official rate of the billing date, and not the day the contract was signed.
This possibility, which the Government authorized in the face of unstoppable dollarization, made businessmen in general and those dedicated to the world of leisure in particular recover their lost confidence and venture to schedule events again, which It goes hand in hand with job creation.
“This reactivation has gone down very well in the community and has been very important for the generation of jobs that were stopped. This world looks superfluous, but it is an economic activity that generates, in a medium-sized scenario, about 50 or 60 jobs, only in the part of the elaboration and assembly structure”, explained Colmenares.
In addition, he explained, “each musical group by itself employs approximately 20 people, including musicians, instrumentalists, engineers”, which in turn give rise to the generation of indirect work to other sectors, such as “waiters (waiters), security, protocol, transportation and lodging”, which reach an average of 200 people per event.
And although Colmenares recognized that the start has been “a little loose”assured that “it has been rising” and was optimistic about the panorama that is presented until the end of the year.
Fashion
The Hesperia Valencia Fashion Week (HVFW), which was recently held in the state of Carabobo, taking advantage of the economic recovery, was the first event of its kind hosted by Venezuela and promises to be the first impulse of an industry that remained in the rear.
The organizer of this fashion week, Romina Palmisano, valued the generated movement as “positive”, after about 10 years without similar activities.
“It is super positive for the reactivation within this fashion movement that had been neglected in Venezuela for around 10 years without having such a complete fashion week,” he reiterated.
Within the framework of the HVFW, in addition to the parades, conferences and talks were held, the organization of which had around a hundred participants, who joined the designers and models, generating more than 250 direct jobs.
For his part, the designer Giovanni Scutaro, who also celebrated the success of the event, explained that a single creative generates work for more than 100 people.
“In the atelier, as such, we are 25 workers. In my productions, the least that work with me is 120 people. Between hairdressers, makeup artists, the entire team that collaborates within the organization as such, ”she assured.
Fashion and entertainment professionals They are committed to taking advantage of the moment of growth that Venezuela is experiencing, which was, according to the Government, 7.6% in the third quarter of 2021 —the latest global figure provided by the authorities—, despite the blockades they accuse from other countries, such as the United States.