The Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition announced this Monday, 27 September, in Coimbra, that the Government will continue to launch lines of credit to support the tourism sector, whose recovery is still underway «will be slow ».
Speaking at the opening session of the World Tourism Conference, promoted by the Confederation of Tourism of Portugal (CTP), Pedro Siza Vieira announced that in the coming weeks a new line of 150 million euros will be launched to reinforce the existing offer.
"In the near future, we will need to continue to support companies in the tourism sector, because despite the fact that the recovery is already there, it will still be slow," said the official at the session, which took place yesterday afternoon at Convento São Francisco, in Coimbra.
At the moment, according to the minister, the Resume program is underway to help companies in "discussions they are having with their banks in order to ensure the adjustment of their credits on defaults to operational conditions that they may anticipate."
This program will be reinforced with 150 million euros "both in Turismo de Portugal and in the banking system for small and medium enterprises", he told journalists.
Pedro Siza Vieira also announced the launch of the Adapt program to give incentives to companies in the sector to make “small investments to adapt their offers to the new operating conditions”.
For the beginning of the year, the launch of the Reinforcement program is planned, which is aimed at companies that intend to start reducing their indebtedness under the Covid-19 lines.
"We will allow companies in the most affected sectors to have access to a non-repayable incentive, as long as they place amounts of the same value to pay off their current indebtedness," said the official.
The minister also guaranteed that the Government will maintain in the coming months the support regime for the progressive recovery, which supports the most affected sectors with the payment of part of workers' salaries when companies are unable to do so fully.
"It is an employment protection measure that, at the same time, is also a relief for companies' treasury during these uncertain times."
In the opening session, the president of the CTP, Francisco Calheiros, highlighted that the sector's engine "has momentarily had the flu, suffered a lot of damage", but believes that it will be possible to recover it.
For that, he reaffirmed, it will be necessary a “very clear support of the Government”, considering that it is essential that the approved and announced support programs for the tourism arrive “quickly to the companies”.
On Saturday, in an interview with Lusa, the president of the CTP had already urged the Government to put in place support measures that were "on paper", because, according to the official, the companies "are trapped by wires" and the risk of “dying on the beach”.
“Many of the companies [in the tourism sector], at the moment, are shackled by wires. What's the problem? The problem is, we can't die when we're hitting the beach. I mean, we are seeing the beach and this effort of a year and a half is essential that it is not fruitless», considered Francisco Calheiros, in an interview with Lusa agency.
The president of CTP also said he believes that in March 2022 the sector will resume its normal activity, with the approach of Carnival and Easter, as well as the end of the low season period, which starts now in October.
In his speech yesterday, he also criticized again, as in an interview with Lusa on Saturday, the lack of flexibility in the labor code and the lack of definition regarding the new airport in Lisbon.
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