The Secretary of State for Tourism and the Balearic Islands make the requirements more flexible to facilitate the implementation of projects that improve the tourist resilience of the destination

The Secretary of State and the Balearic Minister of Tourism have signed the amending addenda of two agreements granting direct subsidies to the autonomous community

The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez, and the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Bauzà, have signed the addendum amending the financing actions foreseen in the aid line for tourism resilience projects in extrapeninsular territories.

With the signing of this addendum, the actions eligible for funding are modified with the aim of ensuring the execution of the funds, whose execution period was extended to the maximum allowed by the European Commission (30 June 2025) by means of a Royal Decree approved on 4 June. These remnants amount to 19.1 million euros.

The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez, has highlighted the importance of “executing all the funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and not losing a single euro” in direct aid to improve the competitiveness and resilience of destinations.

“We are at a strategic moment for the tourism sector, not only in Balears, but throughout Spain, and it is crucial that all administrations align efforts to complete the inclusive, green and digital transition of our tourism model,” said Sánchez.

Likewise, the Secretary of State thanked the autonomous community for “the will and efforts made to take advantage of all the resources that the Government of Spain has allocated to Balears”, through the Recovery Plan, for “the essential adaptation of the destination to a changing environment that poses so many challenges”.

The Ministry of Industry and Tourism has already allocated more than 300 million euros to Balears in territorialized projects, to which must be added the affectation in this autonomous community of projects of national scale that will have repercussions throughout the territory, such as the Intelligent Platform of Destinations or the single state registry of tourist housing.

For his part, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Bauzà, was “very satisfied” after this signing and thanked the extension of the execution deadlines. “From the first day we arrived we asked for these deadlines to be modified because we saw it very difficult for beneficiaries to finish their projects before December 31 of this year.” In addition, Bauzà pointed out that “having 20 million euros more to finance projects to improve competitiveness in the tourism field will help us achieve a quality and sustainable offer”.

After signing the addenda, Bauzà also explained that the relations between both administrations “are very good and the communication is fluid”. The Minister of Tourism recalled that “the aid that comes thanks to the Next Generation funds is an incentive for private companies and local entities, who see in these subsidies the possibility of developing projects that would not be viable without this support”.

The “Tourism Resilience Strategy for Extra-Island Territories” corresponds to the third investment of the Tourism Sector Modernization and Competitiveness Plan (Component 14 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain).

This aid line, designed for particularly fragile territories, allocates 100 million euros in direct grants to Balears for projects that improve the competitiveness of the destination and its ability to adapt to changes in the markets. Eligible projects are selected directly by the Autonomous Community based on their priorities.

GR East Mallorca Long Distance Trail

The Secretary of State and the Balearic Councillor have also signed an addendum to the agreement that determines the conditions for granting direct aid to the Balearic Islands, provided for in Royal Decree-Law 12/2019, of October 11, which adopts urgent measures to alleviate the effects of the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook.

In particular, the implementation and justification of the GR East Mallorca Long Distance Path project is extended, between the municipalities of Artà, Capdepera, Manacor, Sant Llorenç des Cardassar and Son Servera, with a grant of 915,000 euros. The new deadline for implementation is extended until 31 January 2026 and the deadline for justification until 31 January 2027.

Royal Decree-Law 12/2019 granted a direct grant to the autonomous community, amounting to 8 million euros, to alleviate the effects of the insolvency of Thomas Cook in the Balears.

The signing of these addenda was also attended by representatives of the five municipalities benefiting from the project, in addition to the government delegate in Illes Balears, Alfonso Rodríguez.