Hotels ask for a non-refundable rescue plan and 500 million for a travel voucher with discounts in Spain

The tourist sector in Spain begins to look with concern to the summer. The slow rate of vaccination of the population, the maintenance of the regional perimeter closures to avoid a fourth wave of the pandemic after Easter or the end of the extension of the ERTE on May 31 suggests that tourism needs something more You just have to regain mobility to get out of the induced coma you are in. And more when high season it is not even insured to lighten the impact of these months of paralysis.

So the hotel management Hosbec, the main one in the Valencian Community, on Monday put on the table a rescue plan for the Minister of Economy, Rafa Climent, and the regional secretary of Tourism, Francesc Colomer, with whom the president of the entity met in Benidorm, Toni Mayor. The Valencian hotel sector demands a non-refundable aid plan because the situation “does not allow more indebtedness.”

According to Hosbec, the minimum endowment of the rescue plan it should be 200 million euros, “applicable to viable companies with a drop in sales of more than 50% and should cover the payment of 60-80% of expenses”. The hotels justify it to mitigate the losses of the last year, which oscillate between 50,000 and 150,000 euros for each month of closure. According to Mayor, the money could come out of the 11,000 million direct aid package promised by the Pedro Sánchez Government, a proposal that Minister Climent promised to study.

But to get out of the hole, Hosbec also raises the need to reactivate national tourism, especially as of the summer, with the extension to all of Spain of the travel voucher that the Generalitat has implemented for the Valencian Community, with discounts for tourists of up to 70% of expenses.

According to the employer’s association, “this pioneering program of the Valencian Community is the one that we want to transfer as an example of good operation and good management so that it can be projected at the national level as a Spain bonus program with an endowment of 500 million, which would serve to stimulate the demand of the Spanish from the month of June “.

On the other hand, and although the Valencian Government continues to insist that the Opening of the Community at Easter, for the President of Hosbec “there is no need to be afraid of normality and, if the figures are consistent, you have to start opening up economic activity”. “If the data are good, there is no need to fear mobility,” he insisted.

In fact, the employer’s association has already asked the Consell to consider the option of having a hotel reservation count as a safe-conduct to bypass the perimeter closure. Asked about the matter by the vice president of the Consell, Mónica Oltra, she has denied that an exception of this type is being considered.