[ad_1]
The measure was agreed with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and requested by the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA) and the National Tourism Board. It was also discussed with Richard Alibegov, president of the Bulgarian Restaurant Association.
“At my suggestion to the Minister of Health, the approach was taken of allowing hotel guests to eat in restaurants, but only for their guests. The specific thing is to set an afternoon schedule until 22:00 and observe 50% capacity of the restaurant. This is my proposal, which was adopted as an approach and I thank the staff for accepting it “, said Mariana Nikolova. She pointed out that she has been personally involved in specific inspections, because it is not appropriate for spas to work, hotels too and people eat in the rooms.
Providing well-targeted and sufficiently sized resources quickly and efficiently is critical for vulnerable businesses and workers in times of crisis. This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Mariana Nikolova, to the deputies of the Parliamentary Commission for Economic Policy and Tourism. During his participation, he presented the current situation of the tourism sector and the measures taken to support the industry.
The Ministry of Tourism has developed a pilot project to “Support companies registered under the Tourism Law as a tour operator or travel agent to overcome the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the minister. He clarified that this scheme is to support representatives of small businesses in tourism with funds from the Operational Program “Innovation and Competitiveness” 2014-2020 (OPIC) for an amount of BGN 10 million.
He pointed out that, to date, the admitted candidates are 720 companies with a turnover of 500 to 56 million BGN. Distributed proportionally among them, the aid of BGN 10 million means a support of BGN 51 million for those with the lowest turnover of up to BGN 391 thousand for those with the highest turnovers. From December 15 to December 7, 2020, contracts must be signed between the Ministry of Tourism and the final beneficiaries.
A few days ago I signed an annex to receive a new 3 million 129 thousand 600 lev to support specific professions in the tourism sector affected by the COVID crisis, said the deputy prime minister.
He noted that they join the previous OPIC project. The decision to open the measure “Support for the establishment and operation of Tourism Management Organizations (TRAs) for the hiring of external experts” was approved by the OPIC Monitoring Committee on December 1, 2020. The beneficiaries of this aid are about 1,500 guides and mountain drivers who have been without income since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Deputy Prime Minister reported that another measure that the Tourism Ministry managed to negotiate with the Finance Ministry amounted to BGN 51 million to help tour operators and travel agents.
The funds are in addition to the BGN 10 million grant already provided under OPIC and will also be delivered to the ministry. State aid is awarded to tour operators and travel agents in the form of grants amounting to 4% of their turnover without VAT in 2019. These resources should be used as a priority to compensate for losses in the period from 1 December March 2020 to December 31, 2020 resulting from customers who have waived vouchers, as well as amounts withheld by service providers.
Today the financial aid received a “green light” at the meeting of the Council of Ministers, explained Minister Nikolova, specifying that the procedure to request this resource is described in a draft Ordinance of the Minister of Tourism and will be in compliance with the rules. for state aid. In this sense, the draft regulation was sent to the European Commission, and it must be taken into account that the aid is granted and paid after notification from the European Commission. He thanked Prime Minister Boyko Borissov for his understanding and the opportunity to provide this resource.
Another plan to overcome the effects of the pandemic is state aid provided by the government of 35 euros per seat on charter flights. It is intended for tour operators using airlines with a valid operating license to fly charter flights to Bulgaria for tourism purposes.
The government has delivered 55 million BGN for the current and next year, and the measure is designed for 400 thousand tourists for the two years and I believe that these trips will take place under favorable epidemic conditions, said the deputy prime minister. He added that 32 requests for support have been received so far and are currently being considered. According to her, in the next few days the results will be announced, how many of them have been approved, how many passengers are involved and for what amounts.
Today, the government allocated an additional BGN 4,999,723 for 2020 to the Ministry of Tourism to overcome the consequences of the pandemic, the deputy prime minister said.
He clarified that these funds provide for two years after the lifting of the state of emergency to provide state operators, who use airlines a valid license to operate charter flights to Bulgaria for tourism, a state subsidy of 35 euros per day. one seat of the maximum passenger capacity of the aircraft for each flight.
The aid is granted for each seat occupied by a person using a tourist service in Bulgaria only for flights with a capacity of not less than 100 seats.
The Minister also reported that measure 60/40, which for the tourism sector is 80/20 – we reported the preservation of about 24,575 jobs in the Tourism, Hospitality and Transport and Transportation sectors or about 25 thousand families will have a guaranteed income in the coming months.
The program is also aimed at the self-employed, and to date a total of 1,700 companies and freelancers have benefited. According to the plans of the Ministry of Economy, companies in the catering and hotel sectors have so far requested and received BGN 23 million.
Minister Nikolova announced that the annual rate of decrease in foreign visits to Bulgaria during the first ten months of the year decreased by minus 60.6%, the number of nights spent in accommodation units reported a significant decrease compared to the period corresponding to the previous year, which amounted to minus 66.2%.
According to her, only during the first six months of 2020, the strongest contraction in economic activity among the main sectors of the economy was reported in the services of travel agencies and operators activities in an amount of minus 83.2% . For the hotel and restaurant industry as a whole, the decrease in activity was -70.2%. The hotel sector is relatively more affected, with the drop in production reaching minus 76.4% compared to minus 38.1% in the restaurant industry.
The crisis revealed the macroeconomic importance of tourism and highlighted the need for government and parliament to act at all levels of government and find integrated solutions, the deputy prime minister said. He thanked the deputies for the support provided to the tourism sector with the reduction of the Value Added Tax from 20% to 9%.
According to the sector itself, this step allowed it to survive and according to its affiliate organization it has protected 70 percent of them, added the minister.
[ad_2]
