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Due to quarantine restrictions, the flow of foreign tourists fell by 75% last year and domestic tourism by 21%. travel industry players seize every opportunity to make up for losses.
In February, a new 10 million were announced. The investment of the Business Support Fund in future UAB Novaturas bonds, for an amount of EUR. This will increase the total amount of aid granted to this company during the pandemic to around € 19 million. euros.
The Lithuanian Travel Companies Association (LKVA) is outraged by the sponsorship of this company. The small and medium tourism business, according to the association, generates 70 percent. Lithuania’s GDP from tourism and travel agencies and tour operators paid LTL 16.5 million to Lithuania’s budget in 2019. taxes in euros. Therefore, Udrius Armalis, Vice President of LKVA and Head of UAB Superkelionės 15 minutes He said he was surprised that a company could receive so many millions in state aid.
Eriko Ovcharenko / 15min nuotr./Udrius Armalis
“Novaturas creates 1 percent. Lithuanian tourism GDP. If support for this intensity were extended to the entire tourism sector, the remaining € 1.2 billion would be needed. Euro support. People may think that the tourism sector is made up of itself. by outbound tour operators, but also includes inbound tourism, travel agencies, guides, hotels, restaurants, it’s a huge ecosystem, “said the man.
In total, Novaturas received nearly LTL 18.5 million through state aid measures. loans in euros. In February an agreement was reached with the State Investment Management Agency for 10 million. an investment that will reach the company through a mix of financial instruments. Convertible and common bonds will be issued for a value of LTL 5 million. euros. The fixed annual interest rate on convertible bonds is 9.5 percent. For a 12-month period, increasing by 0.5 percentage points annually for each of the other 12 months.
Previously due to 5 million. Long-term loans in EUR were agreed within the framework of the measure “Guarantees for portfolio loans” of the Invega Investment and Companies Guarantee Fund. The same institution granted a credit to settle with travelers trips that were not made due to the pandemic, for a total of 2.4 million. euros. During the pandemic, fiscal loans were also received from the State Tax Inspectorate (940 thousand euros) and from Sodra (150 thousand euros).
Sigismund Gedvila / 15min photo / Health protection
At the same time, the vice president of the LKVA regretted the lack of support for other business sectors and called for a rescue plan for the entire tourism sector. It maintains that the sector has not received and is not receiving any real and exceptional support.
“Of all the support measures, the rest of the tourism sector could claim at least compensation for downtime. Travel agencies reimbursed huge sums of commissions to tour operators, for which they received no compensation offers. They were ordered. irrevocable services: hotels, flights and everything else, for which no support measures were received, ”said U. Armalis.
„Novaturo“ the boss urges not to confuse subsidies and loans
Audronė Keinytė, the head of the Novaturas group 15 minutes She said the accusations made surprised her.
“Naturally, as market leaders, we are always under scrutiny and our actions receive a lot of attention, but it is rare to receive unfounded criticism from other representatives of the tourism industry for working efficiently. All the agreements and agreements reached did not come out of nowhere. Last year, we spent a lot of effort and time looking for and evaluating all the opportunities to guarantee business continuity ”. 15 minutes she said.
The woman also argued that it was not fair to combine the support and the loans received. The company received significantly lower subsidies that will not need to be repaid: 410 thousand. euros. 346 thousand euros were received as partial salary compensation, 32 thousand euros of subsidy for innovation and 32 thousand euros of repatriation subsidy. A.Keinytė points out that this last service cost the company more than 260 thousand. “The millions raised are not in the form of grants, but in the form of loans that we will have to repay,” he said.
Photo by Novaturas / Audronė Keinytė
“Because we belong to the category of large companies, we were not able to qualify for subsidies such as rental compensation, loan interest compensation, 2019. refund of part of the GPM tax paid. For the same reason, we were not eligible for state aid under the communication approved by the European Commission, although throughout the European Union, the OECD also recognizes that tourism is one of the business sectors most affected by the declared pandemic, with revenue compared to 2019. the indicators fell more than 70 percent, “said the head of Novaturas.
LKVA loaded in 2019. paid only 0.8 million. taxes, the company also provided a number of its activities. In that year, Novaturas declared 1,636 million. 1,922 million euros last year. euro to state tax, 2020 the group employed 105 people. Last year 20 thousand were exported. travelers (151 thousand in 2019), 176 charter flights were completed (1,247 in 2019).
VIVA Manager: We only support companies that meet the criteria
Dainius Vilčinskas, Director General of the State Investment Management Agency (VIVA), speaking with 15 minutes, Likewise, he pointed out that the investments of the Business Assistance Fund that they manage do not constitute free aid, the companies must reimburse the loans and investments received to the state budget with interest upon maturity.
“The Business Support Fund has made a positive investment decision for the Novaturo Group by investing in it in equal parts through ordinary and convertible bonds for a period of 6 years. All companies are unique, so in each case, when making an investment decision, we work with the company to find which aid instrument would be the most effective and best suited to the needs of the company. “In the case of Grupo Novaturas, these were ordinary and convertible bonds,” said the manager.
Photo by AB Swedbank / Dainius Vilčinskas
D. Vilčinskas also emphasized that the fund itself does not choose companies, companies voluntarily apply to the fund, and then it is evaluated whether the needs of the company correspond to the investment strategy and, if a positive decision is made, it pays.
He also called on other large and medium-sized companies in the tourism sector, for which the fund’s loans and investments may be relevant, to apply to VIVA.
“Our goal is to help all large and medium-sized companies that need financial support, and we will be happy if we can invest in more than one company in the tourism sector. Currently, many providers of accommodation services have also applied to the Business Support Fund and at least 4 positive decisions have been taken in this regard, after receiving the approvals of the European Commission, they will also be reached by the Fund’s loans or investments ” said D Vilčinskas.
Ministry: the tourism sector can benefit from existing subsidy instruments
According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, support for the travel organization sector already reaches almost half of the amount distributed last year: so far 611 thousand have been allocated. 219 companies, and the first total quarantine support for tour operators amounted to 1.4 million euros. euros.
The accommodation and restaurant services sector ranks second in terms of aid received: 4.7 million were distributed to 1,586 companies. euro support. They accounted for 14.6 percent. beneficiaries, and a total of 20.3% went to all support.
Representatives of the Ministry recall that the subsidy measure, which began at the beginning of this year, can also be used by the tourism sector. Tourism companies with a reduction in turnover of more than 60% can also apply for subsidies under the next new measure “Subsidies to companies most affected by COVID-19”.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Ministry of Economy and Innovation
Currently, Invega grants soft loans to both small and large companies affected by COVID-19, according to which travel agencies, tour operators, pre-booking services and related companies have received loans for 500 thousand. euros. In addition, the existing loan mechanism is open only to tour operators and accommodation and catering providers, and provides 19 loans to tour operators for 4.3 million euros. euros ”, they say 15 minutes in the response sent by the Ministry.
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