The Spanish Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce announced that Promotur Turismo de Islas Canarias, the Canary Islands tourist public body, has launched a sponsorship program for in-person events on the islands. 760,000 euros have been allocated for this program. Of this number, 385,000 will come from Promotur Turismo de Islas Canarias, while the remaining 375,000 euros will come from the agreement signed with the Spanish State to mitigate the losses following the bankruptcy of the Thomas Cook Group. Only private entities that organize and hold events at the destination may apply to the program.
The Canary Islands tourism industry needs measures to mitigate the impact caused by the health crisis that also allow restarting activity and employment, which is achieved by supporting the creation and maintenance of an agenda of activities that attracts tourist arrivals
Yaiza Castilla, Regional Tourism Chief
The sponsorship will be distributed by islands. Gran Canaria and Tenerife will each receive 22.37%; Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, 17.11% each; La Palma, 8.55%; La Gomera and El Hierro, 5.26% each; with La Graciosa receiving 1.97%.
It is important that the support is a consequence of the individuality of each island, so the island development and personalized tourist features will be taken as a reference
José Juan Lorenzo, managing director of Promotur Turismo de Islas Canarias
The events can be in sports, business, scientific, academic, cultural (theatre, dance, music, cinema, etc), cuisine and tourist activities. These events must be held between April 1 and June 30 and must be face-to-face. Given the uncertainty linked to the pandemic, however, there exists a possibility of maintaining sponsorship even if the in-person event is forced to switch to a virtual setting. This would be in a scenario where a new wave of Covid-19 contagion appears causing a new set of confinement measures.
The event must aim to achieve some form of social work. Some examples are: hiring people with disabilities or any other impairment to help them have access employment.
Some important aspects to be considered for the sponsorship are: the incorporation of other sectors that make up the tourism value chain, the participation of the population and regional businesses, the impact on the image of the Canary Islands as a destination, the innovative nature and its social, economic and environmental impact, among others. Depending on evaluation and approval, Promotur Turismo de Islas Canarias could co-finance the project with anywhere between 20% to 50% of the event’s cost.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are encouraged to apply, as well as larger ones (NGOs, associations and private foundations), self-employed, Temporary Business Unions (UTE) and clusters.
