06.29.09
Tax cuts for airlines which bring in more tourists
On the second day of the State of the Nation debate in Congress, the Prime Minister has presented a new measure to boost a sector which is key to the Spanish economy – tourism. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced that airlines which bring in more tourists to the country will be freed from airport tax.
The government will pay the tax on behalf of all passengers for airlines which carry more passengers in the second half of 2009 than their amount for the last six months of 2008. There will be increased travel assistance for residents of the Canary Islands in the form of a 30% subsidy on tickets for flights between the islands and the mainland. They currently get 15%.
In reply to a spokesman of the ‘Grupo Miixto’ during the second session of the debate of the state of the nation, Zapatero indicated that this modification in airport rates will have national reach and will be set in motion ‘immediately’. Zapatero was sure that this would be “a much more efficient and useful incentive” to increase tourism and passengers.
The CEOE employers’ organisation has meanwhile said that most of the measures announced by the Prime Minister are going in the right direction. The organisation said in a release that the tax reduction was a positive move.