Xunta de Galicia

Representatives of the Galician tourism sector conveyed to the Regional Minister of Culture and Tourism their concern about the economic impact that this crisis will have on the sector

The sector put on the table short and long term measures, such as the launch of a campaign to promote Galicia as a destination when the COVID-19 crisis ends

In view of the evolution of the coronavirus crisis, a representation of the Galician tourist sector headed by the president of the Cluster of Tourism of Galicia, Cesáreo Pardal, held a new meeting with the Regional Minister of Culture and Tourism, Román Rodríguez, to whom they conveyed the support of the tourist sector for the implementation of drastic measures that must be taken to minimize the impact of the coronavirus crisis in Galicia.

Being aware that the health emergency is the priority right now, the representatives of the Galician tourism expressed to the head of the Department of Culture and Tourism their concern about the serious economic impact that this episode will produce and the need to take measures in the short, medium and long term to support a sector like tourism, crucial in the Galician economy.

“If we have to take more drastic measures, let’s take them, but let’s work together to make this situation as short as possible”, said the president of the CTG, Cesáreo Pardal, taking on board the sector’s concern not only for Easter but for the evolution of the year as a whole. In this sense, the president of the CTG transferred to Rodriguez the situation of paralysis in which almost the totality of the Galician tourist sector is with cancellations, suppression of events, flights and trips in all the targets, reduction of the tourist consumption or of the hiring or enjoyment of vacation packages.

Pardal warned about the need for public administrations to support this sector with both general measures, applicable to the whole of the Galician industrial fabric, and specific support for the tourism sector in the fiscal field, through tax exemption measures and liquidity injection, as well as transferring long-term proposals for the recovery of traveler confidence. In this sense, the president of the Cluster Tourism of Galicia said that “we value positively the economic measures that can be implemented to alleviate the consequences of the COVID19, both from Europe and
from the national government or from the Xunta”, but stressed the need to start taking them now and in the long term with credit and financing measures, of a fiscal or human resources management nature.

Finally, once this exceptional situation has been overcome, the sector also put on the table the possibility that the Xunta contemplated the launching of a destination promotion campaign for the summer season, with the aim of recovering travellers’ confidence and in awareness of the fact that this is the period in which a large part of the annual turnover of the Galician tourist sector is concentrated.