Struggling Caracas restaurants, bars offer tour to boost sales

CARACAS (Reuters) – A creative solution has emerged in Venezuela’s capital Caracas, where several bars and restaurants are joining forces to offer an eight-hour tour in an effort to boost low sales amid persistent inflation.

Known as the “Route of Pagan Temples,” this tour takes customers through two restaurants and seven bars in the city, and has been organized by the businesses involved.

Freddy de Freitas, the owner of a Spanish food restaurant in Caracas’ center, explained, “It’s about rescuing the bars […] giving these spaces a showcase so that they can survive.” He added, “The business activity of bars in this part of the city isn’t what it was due to the situation of the economy.”

In 2019, President Nicolas Maduro’s government relaxed control of the economy, allowing de facto dollarization which provided some relief for businesses, although not a complete recovery.

This year, businesses have struggled with lower sales due to delays in wage payments and year-on-year inflation of 282%.

The nine-venue tour begins in de Freitas’ Spanish restaurant, where visitors can enjoy tapas including croquettes and potato tortilla, before proceeding to the other establishments in private transport.

Priced at $80 per person, the tour concludes in a bustling part of Caracas filled with street musicians.

Maxwell Briceno, a photographer and tour organizer, explained, “The route seeks to reconnect people with these places, to know their history, so that there’s no gap between the east and west of the city, that there is only one Caracas.”

During a recent tour, several foreign visitors joined in the fun, according to Reuters witnesses. “I have the opportunity to see this spectacle. It’s wild,” said German tourist Rafael Braumann. “The beer tastes good and there’s music,” he added.

(Reporting by Efrain Otero; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by David Gregorio)