Larger than the initial estimates is the loss in the tourism industry in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with arrivals and revenues recording a decrease of 84% and amounting to only 16%, compared to the initial estimate of 20%.
This was stated before the Committee on Energy, Trade, Industry and Tourism, the Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios, informing the MPs about the implementation of the Strategic Planning for Tourism.
According to Mr. Perdios, the coronavirus pandemic is leading to rapid changes in the tourism industry, with plans for the next two or three years being accelerated.
Among other things, Mr. Perdios said that among the plans of the Ministry is the creation of themed beaches, explaining that the goal is to create, for example, quiet beaches without music and without water games.
He also said that the goal is to promote agritourism as well as other forms of tourism, such as sports, religious and others. Giving examples, he said that cycling tourism could be promoted by creating cycling routes as well as golf tourism.
Mr. Perdios stated that around seven million euros will be allocated, an amount which was not allocated due to coronavirus, to Municipalities and Communities, in order to proceed with infrastructure projects, in relation to tourism.
At the same time, speaking about the future and the prospects, the Undersecretary pointed out that for 2021, the course of tourism will depend on the opinions of epidemiologists and the categorization of countries. If there is no stability, as he said, then it will be impossible to have tourists. This year we pressed the button for tourism, but the engine did not start, he said.
EDEK MP Elias Myrianthous in relation to the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Tourism said that the information, prospects and projects that are being implemented, show a positive picture for the future. However, he added, the serious issue of the pandemic has hit tourism by 84%.
The outlook for 2021 does not seem to be positive at the moment as there is no immediate reduction in the pandemic problem, he said, adding that what is surprising is that within the budgets for 2021 there is a reduction of 7 million for the Ministry of Tourism, while the budget had to be increased in order to be able to meet all these challenges due to the pandemic. He called on the Ministry of Finance to be ready to approve additional budgets for the Ministry of Tourism so that it can meet the challenges of 2021.
Entrepreneurship Plans
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The Committee on Trade also discussed today the Youth and Women Entrepreneurship Support Plans in relation to incentives and approval procedures.
DISY MP Savia Orfanidou said that the Commission was informed today about the Grant Plans and schedules for the new period, to encourage entrepreneurship, support the manufacturing industry to increase its contribution to the country's GDP, to promote renewable energy sources and to upgrading the energy efficiency of buildings, which will be announced gradually from the beginning of 2021.
Ms. Orfanidou stated that the total cost of the Plans was initially € 271m, but due to the increased demand, a request has been submitted for an increase of funds to € 400m, ie there will be an increase of € 130m, which is a very encouraging and optimistic means. in this difficult climate we are going through ".
The goal, as he mentioned, is the first set of Plans to be announced in January 2021. The plans concern the manufacturing sector, where it is expected to increase the funds in the new programming period from € 20m to € 50m. With another Plan, with the name "save and upgrade" which concerns individuals and not businesses, an increase of funds is expected from € 20m to € 110m in order to enhance green growth.
Also, in the Youth / Women / Up to 50 year old Entrepreneurship Plan, Ms. Orfanidou said that the increase of funds is expected from € 21m to € 30m.
He noted that during the discussion important issues were raised regarding delays due to the existing bureaucracy, as well as the need to modernize the criteria. He added that the Ministry noted that it is considering ways to speed up the evaluation processes, through the electronic system, to modernize the criteria and to facilitate citizens for easy access to funding.
Ms. Orfanidou welcomed the increase in funding for these projects, which aim to support business and provide incentives to encourage entrepreneurship, especially, as she said, under these difficult economic conditions.
Mr. Myrianthous of EDEK said that it is positive that for the next seven years the funds for grants are increased. He noted, however, the need to change the procedures which are time consuming, bureaucratic and unfortunately prevent young people from applying for grants.
He added that other categories of investments should be included in these plans and it should be examined whether the development model we want to promote as a country is what we have had for so many years.
"Democratic Forces Cooperation" MP Marinos Mousiouttas in his own statements on the plans, said that quite a good job is being done in the Ministry of Commerce, noting however that due to the bureaucracy, the various criteria that exist and the outdated system, there is a terrible delay in processing and implementation of the various requests. As a result, he added, money is wasted and not used by young people in the early stages of their careers.
Mr. Mousiouttas said that an appeal was made to the Ministry to provide information so that we know where the problem is located, where there is bureaucracy, where the process "hangs", what are the criteria required and create problems and as a result they can not complete the applications and not to fund the business. The discussion will continue, he said, and assured that the Co-operation of Democratic Forces will take whatever steps are needed to make these plans more modern, reduce bureaucracy and make more young people benefit from this EU gift.
Source: KYPE