In the last three years, the government has allocated a total of 1,858 million euros to local and regional tourism projects. Communities, town councils and other local entities will be able to present their projects to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism throughout February.

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European funds for tourism sustainability projects.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, presided over an Extraordinary Sectoral Conference on Tourism at the Ministry’s headquarters, where it was agreed to launch a new special edition of the Tourism Sustainability Plans for Destinations. This new call for proposals will be financed with 478 million euros from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which is fully funded by the European Union’s Next Generation funds.

Almost two billion to modernise national tourism
This additional ¤478 million to improve national tourism is in addition to the ¤660 million dedicated to the same purpose in 2021 and the ¤720 million of last year’s edition. In total, 1,858 million euros have already been allocated to these projects, which prioritise environmental sustainability and digitalisation with the aim of achieving more competitive and higher-quality tourism.

At the meeting, in which the minister was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosana Morillo, the central and regional governments agreed that municipalities and communities wishing to apply for these Sustainability Plans must submit their projects to the Ministry between 1 February and 6 March.

The initiatives of the local entities will be evaluated jointly by the Secretary of State for Tourism and the autonomous community. The regional governments are also eligible for these funds through Cohesion Actions in the Destinations of their respective territories.

In the last extraordinary call, that of 2022, more than 500 proposals were submitted, of which 196 were selected. Of the latter, 175 were promoted by local entities. The remaining 21 projects corresponded to Cohesion Actions in Destinations presented by the different autonomous communities.

In the new call for proposals approved jointly by the Government and the Autonomous Communities, it was also agreed to allocate a significant percentage of these funds to sun and beach tourism.

The minister recalled that the forecasts for 2023 are very positive and that the recovery of tourism will be completed, once again reaching record figures in terms of tourists and spending. This year the priority of the National Tourism Plan will be the Sun and Beach and Blue Tourism destinations, which is a recognition of the pioneering destinations and a boost for their modernisation.