In Navarra, most of the Navarre agencies remain active, especially working on refunds. They highlight the importance of accelerating the rate of vaccination to reactivate tourism, and say they feel discriminated against in the aid granted in 2021 .. Amaia Irigoyen, president of Fetave Navarra points out that “we felt a bit forgotten, at least until the meeting that We maintained on Friday, within the aid package that was given in 2020, we received 1% of the total granted when our sales in 2020 plummeted to 95% “.
Situation that was presented to the Regional Executive in the meeting held last week. They emphasize the importance of accelerating the rate of vaccination “so that tourism can be reactivated; at the current rate, the vaccination target of 70% of the population would be reached in 2023, which makes it impossible for the sector to survive.”
In addition, she conveyed FETAVE’s opinion on the vaccination passport that is being launched from the European Union. “This will be positive for those who have it as long as it is validated by the health and scientific authorities, since they will find fewer obstacles when traveling as it is not necessary to present a PCR or antigen test with the consequent cost and time savings. , but it should never be a requirement. ”
In reference to the mobility of Easter and upcoming campaigns such as summer, he argues “to be at a point of total caution, since the false expectations that were created in summer and Christmas 2020, lead to greater frustration for customers and the companies themselves of the Travel Agencies sector “.
They expect that in the summer of 2021 the tourist demand can reach (very optimistically) 50% of 2020 with the total recovery closer to 2023 and even 2024.
FETAVE considers that a temporary crisis has become structural and that “it cannot be forgotten that ICOS are still loans (company indebtedness) and the end of ERTES will be accompanied by inevitable adjustments in the structure of companies before the lack of mobility and the low expectations of recovery in the short term “.
In the Autonomous Community both FETAVE NAVARRA and the Department of Tourism of the Government of Navarra, committed to starting a new stage of collaboration with the travel agencies sector that play a fundamental role in the value chain of the tourism sector and in The promotion of the destination, they also agreed to open joint work spaces, among others one for the adaptation and control of the Law on combined travel and related travel services recently updated in the Navarra regulations.
The direct aids launched by the Government of Navarra to Hospitality and Tourism in December 2020 and those that are about to be approved were analyzed. FETAVE NAVARRA had been demanding “the situation of discrimination with respect to other sectors that caused that in the first aid launched in December 2020 they received only 1% of the total of the 13.5 million awarded to the sector”. Tourism confirmed that this demand has been taken into account, carrying out a more detailed study of the special financial system of the Travel Agencies sector. In addition, the recent effort made by the Navarrese government in the launch of a new package of direct aid was appreciated, given the essential nature of the same, it was urged that these be launched urgently, responding from the tourism department that they be published in the next days.
Among other topics, the aid for digitization was discussed, which is difficult to obtain through Next Generation European aid because it is based on projects that are complicated to fulfill by SMEs and mutual collaboration for relevant training courses in the sector.
Likewise, the commitment of the Government of Navarra to the creation of programs of Nature and cultural activities was discussed, from the different tourist agents (guides, hotels, rural houses …) and the role of Travel Agencies as part of the chain tourism, fully prepared for distribution nationally and internationally
They also requested entry into the Navarra Tourism Council, in order to provide experience and collaboration that allow Navarra to be consolidated as a national and international tourist reference.
