ALICANTE – The Provincial Council of Alicante presented ‘Plan TEN’ to revitalise the Costa Blanca tourism sector. It has a budget of €10million.
“It is the largest financial contribution in the history of the Costa Blanca administration,” emphasised the president of the Provincial Council, Carlos Mazón. The sector that “contributes the most to employment and GDP in the province” will receive €10million in aid. This is also the sector that suffered most from the consequences of the corona pandemic, the administrator added.
TEN in English refers to the millions pledged by the municipality. But it is, as reported by Las Provincias, also the abbreviation for ‘más Turismo, más Empresa y más Necesario’.
The implementation of the TEN plan will take place within an ‘open strategy’ so it is possible to make adjustments. In addition, the amount could increase during the year according to the needs of the sector, Mazón explained.
Five pillars of Costa Blanca tourism
According to a statement by the Diputación de Alicante, the programme is built around five pillars, namely the private sector, municipalities, unique projects, hotels and associations.
The private sector will receive an injection of €6million for companies, SMEs and the self-employed. The municipalities will arrange the financing themselves. They allocate money based on population criteria and publish a call for potential recipients from the tourism sector in each of the 141 municipalities to apply. Then they select from the applicants.
The second part benefits tourist municipalities with an amount of €1,089,000.
The third element of the plan concerns direct support (€624,000) for unique projects of associations and municipal councils.
The fourth pillar is the hotel and leisure sector, which is eligible for €300,000 in aid.
Finally, the fifth part of the aid will focus on municipal and supra-municipal tourist associations that will receive €1,350,000 for organising and promoting cultural, sports and musical events with safe ‘anticovid’ protocols. In addition, it supports actions or events aimed at gastronomy, sustainability or renewable energy.
