One million tourism jobs ‘still at risk’ despite €4 billion emergency government plan, says leading Spanish tourism association

A LEADING tourism association has warned that ‘one million’ tourism-related jobs are still at risk in Spain, despite a €4 billion government plan to keep the industry afloat.

Exceltur, which represents 220,000 employees in the tourist industry, has criticised the package because the majority of promised investments are loans.

Exceltur vice-president, Jose Luis Zoreda, complained that 93% of the €4 billion will ‘have to be paid back’.

“Immediate priorities should be extra money to extend the ERTE furlough scheme until the end of the year, and for IVA tax rates to be cut,” he said in a statement.

Exceltur predicts an €83 billion loss in the tourism industry for 2020, with over half of that number lost between March and June.

The Costa Blanca region is projected to lose €4.2 billion this year – equal to the total cost of the  government aid package.

“A million jobs are at stake across Spain because of the current situation,” said Luis Zoreda.

He predicted that many tourism-related companies could go under unless a package of economic measures like easily-available loans are introduced.