Clúster

A representation of the Galician Tourism Cluster held a meeting with the main representatives of the Block, who expressed their support for the sector and learned first-hand about the difficult situation and the main demands of this sector

A representation of the Cluster Turismo de Galicia led by its president, Cesáreo Pardal, had a meeting this morning with the spokesperson of the Bloque Nacionalista Galego, Ana Pontón, who was accompanied by the deputies of the tourism area of the province of Pontevedra, Luis Bará, and of the province of Lugo, Olalla Rodil, and by the vice-president of the Diputación da Coruña, Xosé Regueira. The Bloque Nacionalista Galego, which had shown its interest in meeting with the Clúster Turismo de Galicia as an entity representing the whole of the Galician tourist network, thus had the opportunity to learn first-hand about the situation and main demands of the sector, to which it conveyed its support, aware of the deep crisis it is going through.

The president of the CTG, Cesáreo Pardal, thanked Ana Pontón for her interest in this sector, the driving force behind the Galician economy, and made her a participant in the situation of uncertainty and concern that clouds the expectations of a driving force in the Galician economy that was facing the current season with great expectations. After the meeting, Pontón expressed his conviction that “the Galician tourism sector cannot be allowed to fall into an unprecedented crisis, we are clear that exceptional, powerful and mayoral measures are needed for the sector to move forward, short and long term measures because it is a sector that will take time to get out of the crisis.

Both interlocutors agreed that the priority is that the deconflation is done in terms of health security for both workers in the sector and the general public. But the CTG also stressed the need for this process to be accompanied by support and accompanying measures for a sector that is already suffering the consequences of this exceptional situation. And also of certainties as far as this is possible, certainties in terms of action protocols that allow a safe reopening.

Rescue plan
In this sense, the need for a rescue plan for a sector that generates an important part of the country’s employment and wealth was transferred from the BNG to the sector. Pontoon outlined some of the measures that he considers important that the various administrations take into account as support for continuity with the ERTES until the situation of mobility of people and consumption is normalized, greater support for the self-employed with direct aid and a reformulation of bank lending policy, to ensure that economic aid reaches companies, avoiding the bank to take the final decision in granting the loan and increasing the grace period, in addition to demanding a review of the criteria for granting the line of IGAPE aid.

Revival of tourism and extension of the Holy Year
Finally Pontón demanded a strategy that would allow Galician tourism to revive itself with a tourism promotion campaign adapted to the current circumstances, oriented towards local tourism and the internal market. Furthermore, he highlighted the need to rethink how Xacobeo2021 is going to be, betting on a new model with a greater capacity of the Galician cultural and industrial fabric, extending it until 2022 so that the sector can recover part of these expectations and turning it into an antithesis of confinement as well as giving time to the establishments to adapt to this new reality.

On the part of the Cluster Tourism of Galicia, in addition to its president, the secretary and president of Feprohos, César Ballesteros, the president of Solpor, Jesús Picallo, of Hostelry of Compostela, Sara Santos, as well as the representative of the Consortium of Tourist Companies of Sanxenxo, Francisco González, the director of the Palace of Congresses and Exhibitions of Galicia, Belén Montero, and the manager of the Route of the Wine Rías Baixas, Lorena Varela.