Government of Romania

01/20/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/21/2022 04:57

Prime Minister Nicolae- Ionel Ciucă met with representatives of the Alliance for Tourism(APT)

Prime Minister Nicolae- Ionel Ciucă's meeting with representatives of the Alliance for Tourism(APT)

Prime Minister Nicolae- Ionel Ciucă had today, a working meeting with the representatives of the Alliance for Tourism(APT) as part of the Government's dialogue with the economic sector.

Discussions focused on the government measures to support the hospitality (HoReCa) industry, to solve the difficulties related to providing the labour force in this sector, the predictability of the public health norms, the promotion of Romania as a tourist destination and the support of the spa tourism.

Prime Minister Nicolae- Ionel Ciucă highlighted, as a program to support the economic sectors affected by the protection measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, the reintroduction of the furlough, a decision made in the Wednesday meeting of the Cabinet, to support employees and employers, to an equal extent.

"The Government's objective is to support citizens and maintain the economic sectors open, against the backdrop of the healthcare crisis that we are facing. We consider you the Government's partners in this demarche. We are available to you for dialogue and I invite you to find together solutions to support the HORECA sector, promote Romanian tourism, and spa tourism which has a huge potential", stated Prime Minister Nicolae- Ionel Ciucă.

The Minister of Entrepreneurship and Tourism Constantin-Daniel Cadariu informed that on January 20, 2022, payments to the Agencies for Small and Medium Enterprises, Investment Attraction and Export Promotion (AIMMAIPE) started for the second pro-quota, in the amount of over 1.1 billion RON, in the enforcement of the HoReCa state aid scheme, which will benefit 8,294 companies in the sector. These payments complete those made until December 31, 2021, for all contracted beneficiaries, at a first pro quota of 46. 87 percent, amounting to almost 1 billion lei. The HoReCa aid scheme was launched in 2021, to compensate enterprises in the field of tourism, public catering and events organization, whose activity was affected in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic, through aid under the form of grants in the amount of 20 percent from the difference between the turnover obtained from eligible related to 2019 activity and the one related to 2020, but no more than the lei equivalent of the amount of 800,000 euros/ sole enterprise. The discussion regarding the implementation of the measure HoReCa 2 based on the same state aid instrument, was resumed.

Another topic addressed referred to the implementation of the Measure 2 "Grants for the working capital", a session in the phase of payments. 22,226 files were submitted for this program. The Government representatives and those of the Alliance for Tourism will continue consultations to find the solutions that would allow payments for all eligible dossiers for this measure.

Another topic of interest addressed during the meeting pertained to the opportunities represented by the financing from European funds. Discussions focused on the "Investment in productive activities" Action funded through the Operational Programme Competitiveness 2014-2020, which aims at supporting the SMEs capacity to grow on regional, national and international markets, and to get involved in innovation processes.

The difficulties related to the provision of the necessary labour force for this sector, the provision of support for seasonal employees, the compensation of the taxes owed with those recovered from the state were also addressed at the proposal of the Alliance for Tourism representatives.

The consultations will continue at the level of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, and the Prime Minister will be soon presented with solutions to the difficulties signalled by the HORECA industry and a timetable for their implementation.

Attending the discussions on behalf of the Government were: Minister of Entrepreneurship and Tourism Constantin-Daniel Cadariu, Minister of Finance Adrian Câciu, Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dan Vîlceanu.

On the part of the Alliance for Tourism, the participants were: Dragoș Anastasiu, chairman of the Alliance for Tourism, Călin Ile, member of the APT Board and chair of the Romanian Hotel Industry Federation, Daniel Mischie, member of the APT Board and vice-chair of HORA, Dumitru Luca, member of the APT Board and chair of the National Association of Travel Agencies in Romania, Cătălin Țibuleac, coordinator of the OMD -APT Promotion Working Group and chairman of the Danube Delta Tourist Destination Management Association.