Tourism and Sport Minister Nikolina Brnjac said on Wednesday that all options for helping the hospitality and tourism sectors were "on the table", recalling that restaurant and bar owners were the first to receive help from the state when the corona crisis started.
We talked with the entire tourism sector about how to continue with the measures, all options are now still on the table, said Brnjac in front of the government building while answering reporters' questions about the continuation of aid and whether the state has the funds to help restaurant and bar owners requesting it because they are facing bankruptcy and liquidation.
Asked about the continuation of measures for the hospitality and tourism sector in terms of the recent statement by Finance Minister Zdravko Maric that aid must come to an end one day, Brnjac reiterated that all of them were being taken care of and that possibilities for the continuation of the aid were discussed at meetings every day.
She recalled that through the recovery and resilience facility guidelines would define which funds would be in the forms of grants and which in the form of loans. "That will be the source of most funding," she underscored.
Asked whether that meant it was possible that the state would continue financing the hospitality sector, she underlined that "we have to have all options before us," that the hospitality sector had been the first to get help from the state, and that viability had to be taken into account. She underscored the importance of preserving jobs.
Asked about aid for transport operators working on an occasional basis, who on Wednesday demonstrated outside the government calling for urgent aid because the corona crisis has left them with almost no income and numerous jobs are in danger, Minister Brnjac confirmed that transport operators as well as travel agencies had seen a slump in turnover, which is why representatives of agencies had been to the Ministry last week.
"We have also discussed with employees from other ministries about how to help them and provide measures for business viability," she added.
"It is important for us that the season continues in September because the situation is not the same in the entire Croatia, and the promotional campaign will be adjusted to that," the minister noted.
(Hina/FaH)
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