The Secretary of State for Tourism will promote an extension of deadlines to implement tourism resilience projects in the extrapeninsular territories

19/01/2024

This is a specific investment line for the modernization and improvement of the tourism competitiveness of the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla

The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosana Morillo, is committed to promoting the extension of the execution deadlines of the projects, under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain, for the modernization and improvement of the tourism competitiveness of the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla.

These funds, worth 220 million euros – 100 million euros for the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands and 10 million euros for Ceuta and Melilla – are part of Investment 3 of Component 14 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, “Tourism Resilience Strategies for Extra-Island Territories”.

This is a specific aid line to provide a better response to fragile territories and to enable them to achieve the objectives of the Plan.

The extension of deadlines will require the modification of Royal Decrees RD 1118/2021, of 21 December; RD 449/2022, of 14 June; and RD 1011/2022, of 5 December, which regulate the direct granting of subsidies for the financing of tourism resilience strategies for extra-island territories.

The Secretary of State for Tourism has transmitted the will of the Government of Spain to facilitate the execution of these funds to the Minister of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands, Jéssica de León, at a working meeting held this morning in Tenerife.

Morillo reiterated that the department he heads “is at the full disposal of the Autonomous Communities that require the support of the Government of Spain to ensure that these funds materialize in projects that transform our society.”

For its part, De León has valued the working meeting positively, so it trusts that the period of execution of the projects and programs that are being generated with the help lines linked to tourism from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan can be improved.

The regional holder of Tourism in the Canary Islands has pointed out that the regional government has proposed that the criteria be relaxed so that the funds reach their recipients and are executed.

Justification for extended lead times

The extension of the execution deadlines of these projects requires the modification of the royal decrees affected, as well as the agreements signed between the Secretary of State for Tourism and the autonomous communities that deploy them. The autonomous communities and autonomous cities affected are the ones that must formally and arguably request the need for these execution deadlines to be extended.

Morillo has reiterated that his department is available both to the Government of the Canary Islands – which has already expressed its willingness to work together with the Secretary of State to materialize this enlargement – and to the rest of the territories. “We hope that Illes Balears, Ceuta and Melilla will send us their requests to guarantee the execution of the funds of this line of financing for the extrapeninsular territories,” concluded the Secretary of State.

Meeting with the President of the Canary Islands Government

The Secretary of State for Tourism has also met with the President of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, with whom he has had the opportunity to exchange impressions on the good tourist data of 2023 and the forecasts for the 2024 season.