The Canary Islands Government will present next week a tourist voucher that residents of the islands can use to obtain a discount on their vacations within the archipelago. The Canary Islands thus joins a measure that other communities have already implemented, and which is expected to materialize in the archipelago "in the first or second week of July," according to the regional Minister of Tourism, Yaiza Castilla.
The details have not yet been outlined and will be announced next week, but for the time being Castilla has stated that the beneficiaries will have to spend an amount equal to the amount subsidized with the voucher.
In principle, the vouchers are intended for use in tourist accommodations, although the Minister stated that it could also be extended to other sectors, such as restaurants or car rentals. To do this, interested companies will have to join this campaign.
During her speech on the program El Debate de Televisión Española, Yaiza Castilla also pointed out that these vouchers could be used within the island of residence itself, for some activity that is finally included in this initiative.
However, she insisted that the details still need to be defined, including how the application for these vouchers will be processed, which they hope can be managed through the Internet but also physically. What she did clarify is that they will be like a card with a balance, and the amount will not always be the same, since it will depend on what the recipient can and is willing to spend, since they will have to invest an amount equivalent to the subsidized amount.
The total budget allocated to this project amounts to 15 million euros, which will be deducted from the 80 million that had been announced in aid to the tourism sector.
In this regard, the Minister herself admitted that this sum does not guarantee that the vouchers can reach all Canarians, although its scope will depend on the demand. In principle, they will be given per person, and not per family unit, so each family could have more than one.
Depending on how the first phase evolves, Castilla stated that the intention is to expand the scope of these vouchers in a second phase, so that tourists from the Peninsula can benefit from them, so that they can extend their stay on the islands.
