The Ministry of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands will have 16.9 million euros additional, from funds from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (MRR), to promote infrastructure, awareness campaigns and the digitization of the tourism sector. This was announced by the minister, Jéssica de León, after participating this Friday, December 29, in the Sectoral Conference on Tourism.
“We are closing the year with good news for the Canary Islands and now what we will have to do is run a lot, because the deadlines are very tight, specifically in some we will only have 18 months to execute almost 17 million euros, so collaboration with the private sector will be essential,” said the minister.
As explained by De León, the 16.9 million euros will be divided into three different lines of action. The first consists of an extension of the resources of the Energy Efficiency Plan, which incorporates 11,631,780 euros; while the remaining two are newly created, aimed at launching a Digital Skills Plan in Tourism, for an amount of 4,487,269.74 euros, and a Social Sustainability Plan, with 834,299.78 euros.
Energy Efficiency Plan
Within the line of aid of the Energy Efficiency Plan, the 11.6 million euros are added to the 16.5 million that were not executed in 2022 due to the restrictive bases of the call, which did not arouse the interest of potential beneficiaries. “The Canary Islands will therefore have the challenge of executing more than 28 million that will be directed to the private sector to reduce its carbon footprint and its electricity bill,” stressed De León.
In this line, she celebrated that the new call, which includes the resources of 2022 and 2023, considerably expands the list of economic activities (CNAE) of potential beneficiaries, contemplating sectors that go beyond the strictly tourist sphere, such as museums, libraries or taxis.
"These are modifications that we consider very necessary, because the objective is not only to receive more and more money from Europe, but to be able to execute it so that it has a real and positive impact, both on the tourism model and on Canarian society."
Digital Skills and Social Sustainability Plans
Regarding the Digital Skills Plan in Tourism, De León was in favor of betting on this type of training. She said that the program is aimed at workers in the sector and includes a 150-hour digital training course.
On the other hand, the Tourism Social Sustainability Plan, “will serve to finance good practice guides, training programs or awareness campaigns,” which will help raise awareness about the benefits of the tourism industry in the Archipelago.”
