Government's plan to save tourism is just an extension of aid by Thomas Cook

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• Coronavirus: How is the tax moratorium offered by the Government and why do the self-employed reject Sánchez's plan?

The plan that the Government has developed to try to help tourism and alleviate the consequences of the coronavirus crisis is simply an extension of the aid that it has already enabled after the bankruptcy of tour operator Thomas Cook . And it is not, therefore, a new, extensive, powerful performance created specifically for a context as complex as the current one, as demanded by the sector.

"The aforementioned line of financing initially planned for those affected by the insolvency of the Thomas Cook business group is reinforced and extended to those affected by the crisis triggered by COVID-19," is specified in the Official State Gazette (BOE) of this Friday. "Likewise, the financing line is endowed with 200 million euros in addition to the 200 million euros initially planned," adds the document that takes urgent measures to respond to the economic impact of the coronavirus.

In the presentation of the measure, after the Council of Ministers, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, only pointed out that the measure to help tourism was based on mobilizing 400 million euros through an "ICO line for the sector tourist, transport and hospitality ". The measure already seemed scant given the complicated context, and the publication of the BOE does nothing more than certify that it seems an insufficient performance.

Industry reviews

In this context, the sector has been very critical of the measures announced with Sánchez. Exceltur, the largest lobby in the sector, describes the battery of actions as "meager and insufficient" and they ask that it be activated "with the utmost urgency, exceptionally, and while the spread of the virus lasts," a second package of measures that includes the deferment of payment without cost of social security contributions and VAT, for all companies regardless of size. They also require streamlining the management and approval of Ertes to the maximum number of days and expanding "the meager endowment" of the ICO credit line from 400 million euros, to at least 5000 million .

According to the survey launched by Exceltur since the start of the Covid19 spread, the falls in sales of Spanish tourism companies stood at -46.0% at the close of March 11.

For Fetave, the Business Federation of Territorial Associations of Spanish Travel Agencies, the measures are " totally and absolutely insufficient both in extent and amounts " and convey the impression that "the Government has not understood the depth or seriousness of the situation that affects more than 13% of employment. " "To exclude from the measures a very important part of the tourism sector for not being SMEs or self-employed, is to ignore what is the problem that this sector must face and the seriousness of the situation of SMEs, self-employed and non-SMEs", they point out.

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