SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 14. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Council of Ministers has approved today, Tuesday, at the proposal of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, the Royal Decree that authorizes the direct award of 50 million euros to improve tourism competitiveness in the Canary Islands.
This figure is part of the total of 110 million euros, coming from the Next Generation EU funds, to finance tourism resilience strategies in non-peninsular territories (Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla).
“After the approval of a first aid package of 46 million euros corresponding to 2021, today we continue to advance in the deployment of tourism resilience strategies that the Recovery Plan contemplates for our archipelagos and autonomous cities, more vulnerable to falls in the high-impact demand, such as the COVID-19 pandemic,” explained the head of the department, Reyes Maroto.
The actions financed in the Canary Islands with this aid, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, must allow its highly touristic economy to adapt to shocks in demand, such as in the case of pandemics, impacts on tour operators or others.
In the Canary Islands, among others, actions to requalify obsolete tourist infrastructure may be financed; investments in public infrastructure, with special emphasis on improving the attractiveness of public spaces, the promotion of sustainable mobility, the environmental management of beaches and their enhancement with facilities, the provision of approved trails; reinforcement of public services (administration, security and health) in areas of special tourist influx; specific youth training in the field of tourism; development of alternative tourism products to sun and beach, such as shopping or nature tourism and seasonally adjusted strategic promotion.
Incentives aimed at transport companies are also contemplated to facilitate connectivity with the Peninsula.
These specific subsidies for the islands and Ceuta and Melilla are aimed at fulfilling the commitment made by the Government of Spain, within the Recovery Plan, according to which, in the second quarter of 2025, at least 400 beneficiaries of the extrapeninsular territories (Illes Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla) must have completed projects to improve their competitiveness and ability to adapt to changes in international markets.
