The Pakistan Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (PAAPA) has urged to open amusement parks across the country as more than 40,000 people are unemployed due to the closure of parks.
Parks association president Khalid Khan has lamented year-long closure. He said that prolonged lockdown due to pandemic has led to a severe financial crisis for the sector. He demanded the government to immediately reopen all amusement parks all over the country to save their managements from bankruptcy.
‘Open amusement parks or 40,000 people lose jobs’
The PAAPA President said that between 35,000 to 40,000 people had been earning through this sector however their jobs were now in danger due to the consistent closure. He further warned if the reopening of amusement parks across Pakistan was deferred any further then 1000s of people would lose their jobs and they would have no source of income to feed their families.
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He went on to say that amusement parks have been closed since March 2020, but employees have been getting salaries from their owners besides bearing the burden of rentals and utility bills. Although, the federal and provincial governments had not provided any relief to the sector which was now on the edge of collapse.
He further remarked that around 70 to 75 percent of annual revenue of the sector is earned on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha but as parks were closed on Eid-ul-Fitr, the sector had witnessed a loss that could not be compensated for years to come.
He also stated that similar to other sectors of the economy, amusement parks had been contributing a lot to the exchequer in the form of taxes, utility bills etc. while providing employment to 10s of 1000s of people.
However, the sector was facing a deficit of millions of rupees due to the reluctance of the government to help it.
