On Wednesday, December 2, the President of the Council of Tourism, Culture and Sports of CEOE, Marta Blanco, participated in the event organized by IBM “Technology as a decisive factor in the acceleration of Tourism and Transport – Models of efficiency and IT optimization ”. This meeting tried to address the recovery of tourism companies from the crisis caused by COVID-19 based on technology, making decisions and prioritizing initiatives related to the IT environment.
This event was attended by representatives of leading companies in the implementation of new technologies in the tourism sector such as NH, Alsa, Renfe or Grupo Piñero. Likewise, Natalia Bayona, Director of Innovation, Investment and Education of the UNWTO and Dolores Ordóñez, Vice President of International Organizations of Turistec, participated in the event.
Speech by the President of the Council of Tourism, Culture and Sports of CEOE:
In her speech, Marta Blanco stressed the need for Spanish companies to continue with the exercise of reinforcing digitization, which was made more dynamic in the pandemic.
He also pointed out that the final fall in terms of the number of tourists and their expenses will depend on mobility. It is essential that governments take coordinated measures that promote safe mobility. CEOE is committed to the elimination of quarantines and progress towards faster and cheaper tests. With this, it will be possible to begin to recover international mobility, fundamental in the export of services and, therefore, in the financing of our economy.
Finally, he stressed that it is time to invest and prepare for when demand recovers. Especially, the high competitiveness caused by the pandemic makes it necessary to invest in new technologies to improve efficiency and business processes. The Spanish tourism sector cannot be left behind. In doing so, partners like IBM are a vital help.

You can find more information about the event at this link.

The real game in Spain, the difference between the amounts played and the prizes, stood at 4,345 million euros until the end of October 2020, which represents a 50% drop compared to the same period in 2019. Of these 4,345 million euros 2,445 euros belong to private gaming, while 1,900 belong to Loterías y Apuestas del Estado and ONCE.

This is how the “Game Yearbook in Spain 2020”A study on the reality of the sector through statistical data and information on the different aspects of the gaming industry in Spain. This publication was presented this morning through an online event in collaboration with the CEOE and was attended by one of its authors, the professor of Sociology and member of the Institute of Politics and Governance of the Carlos III University of Madrid, José Antonio Gómez Yáñez, as well as the CEO of CEJUEGO, Alejandro Landaluce.

Alejandro Landaluce, has indicated that: “The gaming sector is going through difficult times, like the whole of the Spanish economy. But if the previous crisis made something clear to us, it is that the gaming industry is one of the ones that takes the longest to recover. In 2019 we had not yet recovered the levels prior to the 2008 economic crisis and now the situation is much worse ". "In times of crisis, people reduce their spending on leisure, as is the case with gambling", has pointed out.

As for last year's data, in 2019 spending on all games in Spain amounted to 0.8% of GDP. In public management games, generically "lucky", lotteries and mutual sports bets of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado and the games of the ONCE, 4,590 million euros were played, with an increase of 6.2% compared to 2018. With regard to privately managed gambling, which is basically face-to-face entertainment (casinos, bingo halls, gambling halls, sports betting and hospitality machines), 4,860 million euros were played, a decrease of 0.1% compared to 2018 , mainly focused on machines in the hospitality industry and in bingo halls. For its part, on-line 776 million euros were gambled, which represents only 0.06% of GDP and 7.7% of the total game.

Employment and contribution to society

In 2019, the gaming sector employed 84,797 people, of which 47,047 correspond to private gaming, 18,463 to State Lotteries and Betting, and 19,287 to ONCE, in addition to the 50,300 indirect jobs estimated to be generated by arcade machines in the hospitality sector. In the words of Alejandro Landaluce, “Despite the fact that the fall in the income of gaming companies is higher than that registered in other sectors such as fashion, automobiles or in-store sales in department stores, we have managed to reduce ERTES to 15% of the workforce, by what 85% of the sector's employees are working at the moment”.

According to José Antonio Gómez Yáñez, "companies are making a great effort to maintain their workforce despite the decline in their income. There are business groups that are beginning to have serious difficulties."

In addition, he commented that "In some communities it is urgent that fiscal measures contemplate reductions in rates proportional to the decrease in income."

On the other hand, last year € 1,341.8 million of real face-to-face entertainment gambling were allocated to special taxes on gambling, either from the State (197.3 million euros) or from the Autonomous Communities (1,137.5 million of euros).

On-site private gambling venues, State Lottery and Gambling administrations and ONCE vendors

The study, which collects both public and private gambling data, highlights the total number of points of sale dedicated to public gambling. Loterías y Apuestas del Estado has a network of 4,167 administrations and 6,795 complementary points of sale, while ONCE has close to 20,000 vendors and has a complementary physical channel of 11,468 points of sale, consisting mainly of tobacconists, service stations and newsstands.

Also included are the types of establishments dedicated to private gambling such as bingo halls, with 319 establishments, casinos with 52 establishments, and gambling halls that are currently 3,752 establishments.

Landaluce wanted to remember that “The gaming sector is an important economic engine for the country as a whole, as other sectors such as the hospitality industry know well how difficult it is right now”. "In addition, gambling is a leisure activity enjoyed by the vast majority of Spaniards in a responsible manner, our country being one of the countries with the lowest rate of problem gambling in the world, standing at 0.3% ", has pointed.

You can download the Game Yearbook in Spain 2020 here

Photo courtesy of AZAR Magazine and AZARplus

The CEOE Foundation and the CEIM employers' association have committed this Monday to amplify the actions of the Community of Madrid to contain and fight against COVID-19, within an unprecedented project called Plan Sumamos. S + E – Health plus Economy.

In a ceremony held at the headquarters of the Community of Madrid, the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez; the president of CEIM, Miguel Garrido; and the Madrid Health Minister, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, have signed a pioneering action protocol for this purpose, with the participation of the CEOE president, Antonio Garamendi, and the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

The plan, which has a national vocation and to which more autonomous communities are expected to be incorporated from now on, includes companies carrying out massive tests in companies, as well as mobile and fixed points, in coordination with the Directorate. General of Public Health of the Community of Madrid.

The objective is to set up up to 30 temporary mass testing centers throughout the year that the project is scheduled to last, of which up to 10 would be installed before Christmas.

In this way, the companies have proposed to triple the testing capacity of the Community of Madrid and, for this, carry out two million tests per month. In addition, the business sector will multiply, within the framework of this public-private collaboration initiative, the number of trackers available.

On the other hand, it is planned to carry out an awareness campaign among Madrid companies and their workers to extend the download of the Radar Covid application.

In this sense, thanks to the direct communication channel of the companies with the workers, there is a potential capacity to get one out of every two Madrid residents to download the application.

The plan is supported by a Technical Office for the Project, made up of technical staff from the Madrid Regional Ministry of Health, Fundación CEOE and CEIM.

Finally, the plan is completed with two initiatives to accelerate the labor insertion of people at risk of exclusion, together with Cáritas, and a second that we call Sustainable Digitization and that is already underway, to recycle electronic equipment from companies, to transfer them to those who need it most through NGOs, to reduce the digital divide.

During the presentation of the plan, the president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, stressed that this is "an important day" because, among other things, this plan "is an example that together we make a country."

In this sense, he pointed out that companies can join forces if the Administrations are "aware" of this possibility, for which he thanked the Community of Madrid for this collaboration.

For his part, the president of CEIM, Miguel Garrido, has highlighted the exemplary work, responsibility and solidarity, that companies have had during the pandemic, as well as the predisposition, support and closeness received from the Community of Madrid , which has made contagion control compatible with economic reactivation. "Health, economy, society, companies, government … are terms, not only compatible, but complementary to overcome, together, adding, the dramatic situation that the pandemic has caused us," added the president of CEIM.