The Alicante Provincial Council will launch, through the Costa Blanca Tourist Board and together with the sector's associations, a global plan to support the province's hospitality and leisure industry. This alliance, as defined by the president of the institution, Carlos Mazón, will have an initial investment of 300.000 euros that will allow, among other actions, to assess the economic impact of the pandemic on these businesses, advise affected professionals and promote a promotional campaign that reactivates demand in one of the segments most affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
Mazón, accompanied by the director of the Board, José Mancebo, met last week with a dozen associations from the sector to evaluate the measures of this proposal, which will be developed in the coming months and which will lead, together with Costa Blanca, the Association of Restaurants of Alicante (ARA) with the collaboration of the Association of Restaurants and Leisure Venues of Alicante (ALROA), the Business Federation of Hospitality of the Province of Alicante (FEHPA) and the rest of the entities that group this activity.
“From the Diputación de Alicante we have established a special alliance for hospitality and leisure to establish a strategy that allows us, not only to meet the most urgent needs and demands in the first instance, but also to launch initiatives of advice, study, support and promotion that contribute to reactivate as soon as possible this sector so essential for our economy ", has indicated Mazón, who has once again insisted on the need for this type of initiatives to be accompanied by a fiscal reduction by the central government, just as the provincial institution has done with the provincial IAE surcharge, reducing it by more than one fifty%.
For his part, the president of ARA, César Anca, thanked the support and highlighted "The union of all the associations and the Provincial Tourist Board to carry out a pioneering project that will help us recover activity and positioning".
The plan designed by Costa Blanca and the associations includes as a priority the carrying out of a study to determine the economic weight of the hotel and leisure industry in the province - number of establishments and employees, turnover, origin of customers, etc.- and the impact that Covid-19 has had on the sector. This analysis of the real situation will make it possible to define revitalization strategies and set the “road map” to follow. For this, work tables will be set up with the participation of the different associations.
Likewise, a promotional campaign has been planned "That restores the trust of society and reactivates demand in leisure and restaurant establishments".
Finally, in this first phase, the creation of a support and support platform for the hotelier is also proposed, through which their requests for information, requests for aid or various procedures will be met and digitization and training plans will be offered.
During the meeting, held online, the president also conveyed to the associations the intention of the Diputación to increase from 6 to 9 million euros the provincial aid to the self-employed, SMEs, micro-SMEs and professionals, an investment package that has advanced, will be approved this month in an extraordinary plenary session that will allow the aid to be allocated to the payment of the self-employed fee, insurance or energy rates. Along with this call for aid, it is also expected that the contribution of 14,7 million euros that the institution will make to the collaboration plan promoted by provincial councils, city councils and the Generalitat for the hospitality, leisure and other sectors will be approved in that plenary session affected by COVID-19.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the three aforementioned associations, as well as the Association of Hotel Businessmen of Torrevieja, Turismo Alicante Interior, the Association of Hotel and Tourism Businessmen Marina Alta of the Costa Blanca (AEHTMA), the Ibi Hospitality Association, the Business Association Beaches Costa Blanca, the Elche Hospitality Association and the Benidorm Bars, Restaurants and Cafes Association (ABRECA).
