Government in €6Bn kick-start tourism plan

The Portuguese government has announced a €6Bn plan to kick-start Portugal’s decimated tourism sector.

The plan ‘Revitalise Tourism|Building the Future which aims to regenerate the tourism sector, will have an investment of over €6Bn for a number of initiatives aimed at companies, tourists and residents, according to the Minister of the Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro Siza Vieira.
“With the aim of working on kick-starting tourism, restoring confidence and business for companies, consumers and residents but also on working towards building the future in a more sustainable way.”
The tourism recovery plan is based on four pillars: Supporting Companies, Fostering Safety, Generating Business and Building the Future – and comprises specific short and long term campaigns that will “enable the sector to be rebuilt but on a much higher level,” stressed the minister in his presentation of the plan.
Minister Siza Vieira* (*see Recommended below where he addresses AmCham Portugal) highlighted the goals laid out in the Strategy for Tourism 2027 which was launched four years ago but was sidetracked by the pandemic.
This plan aimed to support companies in the sector achieve the targets established, including reaching €27Bn in tourism revenues and a €20Bn tourism contribution to Portugal’s trade balance by 2027.
“The crisis may mean that we have fallen short of this goal, but our plan aims to put us on this level or even exceed it if possible,” he stressed, recalling that the strategic objectives of ET2027 is to create wealth and wellness in all parts of Portugal throughout the year, while also focusing on diversifying markets and segments in new areas.
The minister of the Economy stressed that the plan presented on Friday would contribute to Portugal “maintaining its market share in the medium term” and achieve by 2023 “the €18Bn in tourism revenues we got back in 2019.
In the short term, Siza Vieira says that the government will support companies through measures that will protect their productive potential and jobs in the sector through capitalisation instruments like, for example, the Companies Capitalisation Fund, Credit Line with Refinancing Guarantee/Rescheduling of Pre-Covid 19 Debt and Credit Line with Guarantee for Financing Guarantee Requirements.
Among many other measures are ones to stimulate demand. From 1 June the IVAucher program will come on line which will enable consumers to accumulate the VAT on expenditure in restaurants and spend it later. This measure has a sum of €200 million set aside.