The Tourist Bonus of the Community of Madrid generated an economic impact of 13 million euros

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One of the many problems that the Covid pandemic brought with it was the huge drop in tourism at all levels.

To reactivate the sector, the Community of Madrid launched the Tourist Bonus on November 16, 2021, which was in operation until May 15 of this year.

Users could reduce by 50% the price of tourist and cultural products and services that they contracted in the establishments adhering to the program, with

(VAT included).

Public investment was

but the benefits were much greater: 10,770 bonds were issued, which generated an economic impact of 13 million euros, 27,000 new tourists and 75,000 overnight stays, according to data provided by the Ministry of Tourism.

In general, the establishments have enthusiastically received the initiative, which has served to make

.

It was especially important for the agencies, as they explain from Viajes Mondel: «When you hire a vacation you do it in your area, in an agency close to you.

But you don't hire her at the destination.

That is why the repercussion for us has been total.

We would not have had these reservations if we had not come thanks to this initiative».

Despite its results, the impact was slightly less than anticipated.

The Ministry of Tourism points to the Ómicron variant, which increased infections at the end of 2021, as the culprit, something that is corroborated by the establishments.

“Sales stopped dead.

Until the month of February, only requests for bonuses arrived, ”they explain from Viajes Mondel, where they point out that from that moment there were also cancellations.

Even so, from the regional government they affirm that in April 2022

of 2019 was recovered.

Issues

joined the program

, of which 40 were Nautalia offices.

Yolanda Rebollo, general director of the Madrid branches, explains that one of the main difficulties of the initiative was the inflexibility of the Community.

Modifications to the voucher reservation were not allowed, so many customers ended up unsubscribing.

At the beginning there were also some setbacks with the management of the collection and the processing of the documentation, which were quickly resolved.

But the establishments consulted agree that the big problem was the

by the Community.

Illustrated by Javier Pérez, general manager of VP Hotels: «We made almost

for the bonds.

Of those, 70% we get because we made it reach potential customers.

It was a campaign more of its own, we had to move our tools to be able to reach them.

I know of many hoteliers who did not move anything and received very little income.

Even so, we lost 30,000 euros of profit on the forecasts we had.

repeat the initiative

The bonds were an exceptional initiative designed to recover the market after the pandemic.

Given the high demand they had, the question that hangs over now is whether they will be repeated in the future and in Tourism

.

“We are now in a period of uncertainty.

The last quarter of the year is key to see what initiatives to take to reactivate or consolidate the sector.

It is a moment of analysis of the situation, ”explains a spokesman.

Among the participating establishments there is a good deal of consensus that it would be positive to recover the bonus soon, although there is a division in the period (winter or summer), the conditions and the changes that should be made.

From Viajes Mondel they offer an intermediate formula:

instead of 50%, which can become unaffordable for the Community.

"Public-private collaboration should be extended more in other areas with initiatives of this type, which are good for everyone and also benefit the client," they add from Viajes Cibeles.

The Madrid Government expresses its satisfaction with the results of this measure and is now pointing to its next objective: to

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

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