– Not enough, says the leader of LO – E24

Now 1.3 billion NOK has been reserved for the scheme. In addition, NOK 100 million is set aside for small businesses left out, which can document that 80 percent of revenue was related to tourism activities last year.

Together, the two measures have a framework of NOK 1.4 billion, that is, NOK 400 million more expensive than announced four weeks ago.

The regime applies from September 1 and will last until December 31 of this year.

Support is calculated with an upper limit of NOK 10 million per company per month.

– This crisis is by no means over. We have been clear that the scope may be greater than planned here, says LO leader Hans-Christian Gabrielsen.

– We are happy to have moved the government in the right direction. But I’m not convinced this is enough, he says.

Must have a bigger drop in billing

Tourism companies with a drop in turnover of more than 40 percent are now covered by fixed and unavoidable costs in the government compensation scheme for tourism.

Therefore, companies must have a drop in turnover greater than in the general compensation scheme, where the limit was 30 percent.

– This scheme is primarily aimed at those who need it most, but there is probably also reason to fear that there are some small businesses that will find it difficult to participate in the scheme, says Olaf H. Thommessen, leader of SMB Norway, to E24. .

– There are reasons to fear that 40 per cent is more than strict, but according to the framework they gave us, this is a significant improvement, he says.

At E24, the Minister of Commerce and Industry Iselin Nybø says that this is a scheme that does not cover lost profits or all the costs that tourism has had or will have in this situation.

– This is a scheme that will help cover part of the fixed costs so that they can go through and out the other side, says Nybø.

– It is not a “business as usual”, it is a plan to provide help in a very special situation, he says.

He believes that the plan should continue until 2021

NHO Reiseliv is satisfied with the content of the new compensation scheme and believes that it largely fulfills the wishes that NHO has put forward.

– It means a lot to companies to know what they have to deal with, says CEO Kristin Krohn Devold at NHO Reiseliv.

Virke agrees, but believes that the plan should continue until next year.

– Now Europe is in red on the map, and the tourism order books are empty and nobody knows what awaits them in the last months of the year. Therefore, we will continue to work to ensure that the scheme continues in 2021, says Virke CEO Ivar Horneland Kristensen.

Tourism organizations seem to be satisfied with the so-called valve scheme for companies that are indirectly associated with the tourism industry. Now it has increased from 50 to 100 million crowns.

Long-awaited scheme

Applicants for the new scheme must be able to confirm that most of the income comes from tourism-oriented activities that are intended to be covered by the scheme, regardless of the commercial code in which the company is registered.

The subsidy is calculated in the same way as in the temporary compensation plan for the corporate group. That is, the compensation constitutes the fixed and unavoidable costs of the company, adjusted by the fall in the company’s turnover and then by an adjustment factor.

The payment will be made as a single payment in 2021.

Already on September 21, the Minister of Trade and Industry announced a crisis package for tourism of up to 1 billion NOK, but without saying anything about the conditions for receiving aid.

This immediately sparked unrest among industry players, who feared a tightening was coming.

Since then, parts of the tourism industry and Nybø have had a series of meetings to gather information.