The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said today in London that the data from the surveys on Tourist Movements in Frontier (FRONTUR) and Tourism Expenditure (EGATUR) published by the National Statistics Institute “confirm good health of our tourism sector ”.

In the first nine months of 2019, the number of tourists who visited Spain exceeded 67 million (+ 1.3%), and tourism spending reached 73.8 billion euros (+ 3%). In the meeting with accredited media in the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, Maroto explained that “these data indicate that the profitability of our tourism model is increasing, which is one of the objectives we set at the beginning of the legislature".

The minister highlighted the recovery of Catalonia, which welcomed from January to September more than 15,600,000 visitors (+ 0.6%), compared to the fall experienced in the same period of 2018 (-2.3%). “Catalonia contributes almost a quarter of the total volume of the Spanish tourism market and its behavior has a great influence on the whole. The instability and the disturbances are a ballast for the tourism and are generating a negative affectation in the Catalan economy, reason why it is necessary to recover the normality and to restore the coexistence in Catalonia ”.

Reyes Maroto has decoupled the declines in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands (-4.2% and -0.4%, respectively) of the Thomas Cook crisis, "since they are associated with declines in the German, non-British market," and recalled that the government shock plan is still underway: “Last Thursday the Government Delegate Commission for Economic Affairs approved the ICO credit line of up to 200 million euros for affected companies, the line has been extended to all companies in the tourism sector with registered office in the Canary Islands or the Balearic Islands because of its main affectation, ”he said.

Regarding the United Kingdom, he highlighted as a positive fact that "between January and September tourism spending has increased by 1.2%, which means that we are attracting British tourists to segments other than holiday tourism." Until September, the flow of British tourists decreased 1.6%, a decrease that is lower than that registered in 2018.

Finally, he pointed out that the World Travel Market is "the ideal framework to build loyalty in that British market and reinforce the diversity of the offer of Spanish tourist destinations."

The acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes MarotoHe said today that tourism must be a “transformation vector” and “instrument of territorial rebalancing to face the demographic challenge.

In the morning session of the G20 Tourism Ministers meeting held in Kutchan (Hokkaido, Japan), the minister recalled that Spain is the most competitive country in the world, according to the World Economic Forum, and that the Tourism Strategy of the Government is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

He also emphasized the importance of sustainability “not only as a moral requirement, but also an economic one, because without sustainability there will be no tourism in the future” and he expressed the need for the future tourism growth model to take quality into account of residents' life: "Tourism can contribute to creating a better, more prosperous, equal and inclusive world."

At the same meeting, the representatives of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have set Spain as an example in the areas of tourism sustainability and innovation (smart cities), respectively .

At noon, Reyes Maroto held a bilateral meeting with Akaba Kazuyoshi, Minister of Territory, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, and chairman of the G20, to strengthen bilateral relations and promote the increase in tourist flows.

In the afternoon he attended different project presentations, visited the space dedicated to the indigenous ethnic group Ainu (Utari) – where he coincided with the governor of Hokkaido, Suzuki Naomichi-, and attended the evening session, dedicated to the role of innovation and digital transformation in tourism sustainability.

Acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, signed today in Seoul with the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, Park Yang-woo, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation Bilateral in the field of tourism.

The MoU includes the creation of a working group to facilitate the implementation of the biannual program of Hispanic-Korean tourism 2020-2021. Both countries have pledged to exchange experiences, statistics and human resources in the field of tourism promotion, digital marketing, market intelligence, development of intelligent tourist destinations and sustainability, as well as to encourage the development of initiatives to increase tourism flows, especially emphasis on gastronomic, film, medical and business tourism.

For Reyes Maroto, “with the signing of this MoU, cooperation in a strategic area for this Government is reinforced, which will undoubtedly favor the increase in tourist flows; we want South Korean tourists to bet more and more on Spain as the main destination of their trips to Europe. ”

South Korea has become the third largest issuing market in Asia for Spain, virtually matched with Japan. Until August 435,000 South Korean tourists have arrived, representing an increase of 39.2% over the same period last year.

Social Security affiliates linked to tourism activities grew 1.4% year-on-year in September, reaching a total of 2,542,145 affiliates, according to the data included in the Tourism Employment Report prepared by Turespaña, under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, and spread today.

Employment in tourism activities has grown in the last year 33,961 workers in high labor, representing 13.2% of the total affiliates in the national economy.

For the Secretary of State for Tourism, Isabel Oliver, “diversifying and modernizing the Spanish model is essential to continue creating employment and improving country competitiveness, even more so after the crisis caused by the insolvency of Thomas Cook, that the public administrations and the private business we have faced in a determined and coordinated way ”.

Of the 33,961 occupational discharges in September, 8,110 correspond to hospitality. The section "other activities" rose by 24,167 members. The "travel agencies" section had an increase of 1,684 workers. The report highlights the positive performance of this branch of activity since December 2014, as it had reduced employment figures continuously in the previous six years (2008-2014).

In absolute figures, employment in the hotel and travel agencies / tour operators as a whole experienced its greatest increase in the Community of Madrid, Andalusia and Catalonia. At the other extreme, the largest declines took place in the Balearic Islands, Cantabria and Extremadura. In relative terms, the year-on-year increases in Comunidad de Madrid (2.2%) and La Rioja (1.8%) stand out.

The full report can be found at
https://www.tourspain.es/es-es/ConocimientoTuristico/AfiliacionSS/empleoEnTurismoNotaAfiliacionALaSS0919.pdf

At the proposal of the Ministries of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and Labor, Migration and Social Security, the Council of Ministers today approved the royal decree-law by which urgent measures are taken to alleviate the effects of the insolvency of the Thomas business group Cook, as well as the strengthening and improvement of the competitiveness of the Spanish tourism sector.
For Minister Reyes Maroto, “the Government has worked intensely to coordinate the work of public administrations with the private sector in order to define a package of measures that is specified in this royal decree-law with which we want to minimize as much as possible effects of the insolvency of Thomas Cook, but also improve the competitiveness and adaptation of the tourism sector, which is key in the Spanish economy, to the new global market trends ”.
Thus, in the text of the royal decree-law it is explained that the seriousness of the current situation and the need to adopt measures immediately make a normative action that offers a rapid response essential, so that the royal decree-law is the appropriate instrument , given that the measures included in it "respond to a situation of extraordinary and urgent need."
It also highlights the objective of promoting “the essential replacement of the dependence that the aforementioned operator was subjected to many companies, for alternative solutions more linked to the information society, digitalization and with greater diversification to which these companies must adapt with immediate character. "
The actions and measures respond, mainly, to a principle of temporality and attend to all the Autonomous Communities affected, and especially to the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands because they are singularly affected territories and more sensitive to the exceptional circumstances previously indicated.
The actions and measures constitute the necessary complement to those already adopted by the competent bodies in the area of ​​airports and transit and air transport, aimed at ensuring air connectivity with the most affected territories.

SUMMARY OF THE CONTENT OF THE ROYAL DECREE-LAW

This Royal Decree-Law is composed of four chapters, divided into six articles, two additional provisions, a transitional provision, a
repealing provision and three final provisions.

CHAPTER II – Employment and Social Security Measures

Article 2 establishes measures to support the extension of the period of activity of workers with discontinuous fixed contracts in the tourism and commerce and hospitality sectors linked to tourism for companies with work centers in the Autonomous Communities of the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands.
The bonus provided for in article 9 of Royal Decree-Law 8/2019, of March 8, on urgent measures of social protection and the fight against job insecurity during the workday, will be applied, on an exceptional basis, during the October and December 2019, and February and March 2020, in addition to the months provided in that article.
Article 3 contemplates that the Public State Employment Service and the Autonomous Communities will coordinate, within the scope of their respective competences, unemployment protection and the execution of their active employment policies to respond to the situation of affected workers For this exceptional situation.

CHAPTER III – Financial support measures

Article 4 provides financial support measures to the tourism sector consisting of instructing the Government to approve a financing line of up to 200 million euros in order to meet the financial needs of those affected.
Article 5 establishes, with the objective of recovering the loss of connectivity, consolidating diversification and improving the destination, the direct granting of the following subsidies:
a) To the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, for an amount of 15 million euros.
b) To the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands, for an amount of 8 million euros.

CHAPTER IV – State Financial Fund for Tourism Competitiveness

Article 6 regulates the 'State Financial Fund for Tourism Competitiveness' (formerly 'State Financial Fund for the Modernization of Tourism Infrastructures'), which will aim to financially support projects that develop tourism businesses aimed at adaptation and improvement of competitiveness, especially those that contain actions of digitalization, innovation and modernization of services, making companies available up to € 500 million.
The execution of this initiative will be channeled under the FOCIT -signed to the Secretary of State for Tourism-, and its financial administration will be carried out by the Official Credit Institute.

FIRST ADDITIONAL PROVISION – General information measures

The first additional provision provides for the establishment by the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and the Autonomous Communities, of general information measures for companies facing debt recovery in the context of insolvency proceedings of companies of the Thomas Cook group.

SECOND ADDITIONAL PROVISION – Strengthening the Smart Tourist Destinations Strategy

The second additional provision provides that the Government will allocate € 1,485,000 to SEGITTUR – a company under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism – in order to support the transformation of destinations within the framework of the Smart Tourist Destinations Strategy, an instrument at the service of promoting good practices in the field of sustainable development, modernization, increased profitability, seasonally adjusted and more efficient management of cargo capacity.