On Thursday morning, Prime Minister Sánchez announced the government's tourism industry stimulus plan. With a budget of 4,262 million euros, there are five main aspects to this plan. One of these is that all destinations in the country will be presented as Covid-safe and will have an emblem to show this.
The Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) is to make 2,500 million euros available, the airports authority Aena will apply cuts to its charges, and 850 million euros will be for sustainability and digitalisation. The prime minister said that "the tourism industry must adapt, and I know that it is doing so".
There is to be a new "observatory" of tourism intelligence. Real-time data will be used for the adaptation of policies. All marketing tools will be deployed in promoting Spain nationally and internationally. A strong promotion strategy will be developed in coordination with the regions.
"It is time to reactivate and to stimulate the tourism sector," Sánchez stressed. "Tourism is a strategic sector for our country. It is the backbone of our country and is a central part of our way of life. Tourism in Spain is not just something for others, it is ours."
With regard to ERTE, the prime minister observed that this will stay, as it is an alternative to the destruction of employment. More than 147,000 companies in the tourism sector have accepted ERTE. Sánchez added that ICO credit had already been welcomed by the tourism and culture sectors; 83,000 companies have requested credit amounting to 10,500 million euros.
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You are quite right. It’s basically window dressing, most of it being subsidised loans at low interest. 3 millon has been set aside to enable someone or some people to check that it is working OK. Nice job for someone !
Reading the article, it sounds to me the bulk of this money will not be reaching the companies that need this help. And also, 4.262 million euros is how much of the total needed? Sounds to me it is a drop on a glowing plate, if you see that ERTE alone is more than double that amount. Big words from Mr Sanchez....as usual. Let´s evaluate in one year what actually came out of all this.