NEW MEASURES TO SUPPORT TOURISM

The APOIAR Programme Regulation has a new Support Tourism measures aimed at financing the accommodation, restaurants and similar and other tourism activities sector, with an allocation of 70 million euros, to be attributed by Turismo de Portugal.

The ordinance came into force on December 14.

This reinforcement stems from the Medium-Term Agreement on Improving Income, Wages and Competitiveness, signed between the Government and social partners in October, which provides for administrative simplification and the elimination of context costs for companies in the accommodation, catering and tourism sector.

Thus, it increases the support to tourism companies that were supported in the scope of the Programme Apoiar due to the impacts of the pandemic, considering now the current context – effects of inflation, increased energy costs and conflict in the European space.

The support to be granted takes the form of a non-refundable subsidy and corresponds to 10% of the final financial support calculated, cumulatively, for each beneficiary company, in the measures Apoiar.pt, Apoiar Restauração and/or Apoiar +Simples, of the APOIAR 2022 Programme.

If, of the support requests presented, the budget allocation foreseen for this measure is not fully used, the unused amount will be redistributed proportionally amongst the applicant companies according to the support initially paid and received. Each beneficiary company may not, however, receive, in the end, a value of support higher than 50% of the value of the final support calculated, cumulatively, within the scope of the measures Apoiar.pt, Apoiar Restauração and/or Apoiar + Simples.

Beneficiaries are companies that:

• meet the eligibility criteria;
• have had an application approved under the APOIAR Programme, in the measures Apoiar.pt, Apoiar Restauração or Apoiar +Simples;
• they develop their main economic activity within the list of the envisaged CAE.

The list of eligible activity codes in the TOURISM SUPPORT is as follows:

Section I – Hotels, restaurants and similar accommodation

55: Accommodation.

56: Catering and similar.

Section II – Other tourism activities

77: Rental activities.

79: Travel agencies, tour operators, other reservation services and related activities.

823: Organisation of fairs, congresses and other similar events.

86905: Thermal activities.

93210: Activities of amusement parks and theme parks.

93211: Activities of travelling amusement parks.

93292: marina activities.

93293: Organisation of tourist entertainment activities.

93294: Other amusement and recreation activities n.e.

93295: Other itinerant entertainment activities.

Section III – Other cultural activities

90: Theatre, music, dance and other artistic and literary activities.

91: Activities of libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities.

Section IV – Service activities

93110: Management of sports facilities.

93192: Other sporting activities n.e.

The beneficiaries’ eligibility criteria and required access conditions must be met at the date of formalisation of the application.

Besides developing main activity inserted in the CAE list and having had an application approved under the measures Apoiar pt, Apoiar Restauração or Apoiar +Simples, the company is also required to:

• is in operation;
• has not been subject to insolvency proceedings, under the terms of the Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Code;

(both situations are verifiable through the submission of a declaration of compliance, signed by the beneficiary under oath, and the remaining conditions are confirmed through the automatic procedures of the 2020 Branch)

• have fulfilled all claims relating to ESIF funding;
• have fulfilled all obligations related to social security and tax authorities.

The application for support is unique for each beneficiary company and must be submitted through a simplified electronic form available on the Simplified Access Platform (PAS Compete).

The access is made through the accreditation of the Tax Authority or through the Citizen Card/Mobile Digital Key in the case of individual entity.

After accessing PAS, the request for support becomes available and is visible at the bottom of the homepage in the menu Others – Support Tourism Line.

COMPETE 2020 recommends that companies prepare and check some elements before submitting the application to speed up the process, namely:

• the correction of the contact email,
• whether the IBAN provided is associated with the company’s NIF,
• the regularisation of the company’s tax and social security contributions,
• whether the CAE of the company’s economic activity is as such registered in the Information System of the Portuguese Classification of Economic Activities (SICAE) platform.

References

Ministerial Order no. 295-A/2022 – DR no. 238/2022, 1st Supl, Series I of 13.12.2022

Ministerial Order No. 271-A/2020 – DR No. 229/2020, 2nd Supl, Series I of 24.11.2020

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Golden Executive – Consultores, Lda | Technical Advisory Department

This text is merely informative and does not exempt the reading and interpretation of the supporting legislation in force, as well as for taking any decision or action that may affect your assets or business you should consult Golden Executive – Consultores, Lda.