Tourism needs a specific strategic project for economic recovery and transformation (PERTE) To overcome the crisis caused by COVID-19, whose omicron variant has been just a “bump” in the ongoing redemption process that has been taking place since May 2021. This was made clear at the 8th Hotusa Tourism Innovation Forum organized by the hotel company and opened by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, who also served to warn The president of Iberia, Javier Sanchez Prieto, said that if they could not finally close the purchase of Air Europa, the “hub” (air traffic distribution center) Madrid will be at a disadvantage for the greats of Europe.
CEOs, Antonio Garamendi; PP, Pablo Casado, and Hotusa group, Amancio López, agreed to the government’s request to prepare PERTE, It would give a boost to the entire sectorr, a request the Exceltur Alliance actually called last week. At the time, the chief executive officer of Iberia, Javier Sánchez Prieto; Aina, Maurice Lucina; Ryanair, Eddie Willson, Easyjet and Johan Lundgren defend that the slowdown in the tourism recovery implied by the omicron variant will only be a “bump” in this restart which has been taking place since last May.
Iberia defends Air Europa’s purchase of Madrid’s “Hub”
Sanchez Prieto would have considered it, if at last They cannot close the purchase of Air EuropaHowever, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport will lag behind its European competitors (Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam) in order to attract strong supply from Southeast Asia. While Spain accounts for only 5% of the traffic in that region of the world The big European “pivots” moved about 25% of that market.
“We are playing on a global board,” said the president of Iberia, and in this game it must be borne in mind that between now and 2030, 2,400 million people from Southeast Asia will join the middle classes. Iberia and Air Europe have given themselves until the end of this month To parse new forms of integration, once the first bid to buy Globalia for 500 million euros fell in December. The First Deputy Prime Minister, Nadia Calvino, spoke last week about the possibility of a state Provide additional support to the company.
Garamendi asks confidence to enter investors
Tourist Garamendi asked PERTE, but he remembered it 80% of the capital in these programs is provided by the private sectorThat is, investors, so it is important to create confidence and stability, in addition to strengthening the solvency of companies through banks. The President of the Hotusa Group, Amancio López Seijas, also asked the government to design a specific PERTE for the sector, At the same time, he criticized the “underestimation” of tourist activity.
Cassado warned on his part Concerning the distribution of European Nex Generation funds What will the government do, which could be discretionary and fall into “nepotism” and “corruption”, while at the same time ensuring that SMEs do not “know where to turn” to seek such help, Which, in his opinion, should not be linked to digitization and sustainability, especially for small businesses.
Noting the measures proposed by the Plenipotentiary Conference to assist the sector, Such as the temporary reduction of value-added tax to 4%Abolishing regional tourist taxes, lowering airport taxes so people can continue to travel and conveying the message that Spain is a “safe destination”. Reyes Maroto brings this forward in 2021 825 million euros of European funds were implemented to support the sector.
Maroto defended that 2022 would be the year of tourism consolidation, but that Spain should not be content with returning to pre-pandemic levels, but rather The model must be rethought to adapt it to the new scenario. For this, it is necessary to stop measuring success by increasing the number of tourists and looking for formulas for cooperation between institutions and With the private sector in order for Spain to maintain its leadership in the field of international tourism, she added.
Consolidation in the aviation sector
The airlines also indicated that the process of consolidating the sector must continue: for Sanchez Prieto “Progress has not been as strong as we had hoped.” This was due to the general assistance programs for airlines in Europe (Germany, France, Italy and Portugal). Eddie Wilson also believes that the focus process has been stalled by government subsidies to airlines, a practice It should be banished because the market needs to arrange itselfHe said.
The president of Aena chose that this process of concentration should be carried out in an orderly manner, because when a company went bankrupt – Air Madrid, Spanair, for example – it generated significant disruption to air traffic flows and It is difficult to request flight permits (“periods”).
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