Spain Approves 800 Million Euro Thomas Cook Emergency Package
Spain News
Published: 15 October 2019 08:37 CET
Updated: 15 October 2019 10:37 CET
Due to the collapse of British tour operator Thomas Cook, The Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation has said that approximately 1.3 million autumn and winter visitors will be unable to fly to Spanish destinations.
It says that this will result in the closing down of at least 500 hotels, generating tourism losses that will run into hundreds of millions of euros.
To limit the effects this will have on the Spanish tourism sector, the acting Spanish government has approved an emergency package valued at around 800 million Euros.
According to the Spanish Ministry for Industry, Trade and Tourism, 200 million Euros has been appointed to help Spanish companies and a further 500 million Euros has been put aside to improve tourism infrastructure. Particularly “digitalization, innovation and modernization of services."
The acting Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said these measures were "a reasonable response to help overcome the crisis and to guarantee employment and economic activity in a sector as important to our economy as tourism."
According to local media reports 7.1 million British tourists traveled to Spain using Thomas Cook's services last year and 4.72 million had done so in the first eight months of this year. The company's collapse has seen the cancellation of around 500,000 holidays in Spain, which had been booked for the remaining months of 2019.
Source
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/13/c_138467238.htm
Image source: Ken Fielding/https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
