Il Giornale: Caroli stopped working due to rising electricity and gas tariffs

MOSCOW, 3 Oct — PRIME. The hotel chain in southern Italy, owned by the Caroli Hotels group, has ceased operations due to a sharp increase in electricity and gas tariffs, the newspaper Il Giornale reported on Monday.

According to the publication, last weekend the group’s management sent an official notice to the prefecture of the city of Lecce about the closure of five hotels in the Puglia region at once due to the inability to pay the bills for electricity and gas, which have increased almost six times since last year and in August exceeded 500 thousand euros.

“Our historic hotel chain is shutting down after nearly 60 years of existence due to unsustainable energy costs that undermine our ability to make a profit and make it impossible to guarantee the continuation of our activities,” said Attilio Caputo, head of the Caroli Hotels group.

Giancarlo De Venuto, head of the Assohotel Confesercenti association of Italian hospitality entrepreneurs, said that the closure of this group is only the first negative signal about the alarming situation that is developing in the industry as a result of the energy crisis.

“We are drowning in costs. Caroli Hotels will be followed by others. There is a danger that tens of thousands of our employees will lose their jobs,” he stressed.