Valencia agrees updates of 2023 Tourist Voucher scheme with tourism industry
The budget for 2023 will be 15 million euros and that the aid will be 60%, with a minimum of two nights.
Friday 7th October 2022 · Mike Smith
Source: GVA Turisme
The Regional Secretary for Tourism, Francesc Colomer, has chaired a meeting of the travel voucher monitoring unit – Comisión de Seguimiento del Bono Viaje – which was attended by the main regional tourist accommodation associations and travel agencies. During the meeting the main novelties of the initiative for next year were presented, included in the new ‘regulatory decree for the direct granting of aid for the Comunitat Valenciana Travel Voucher Program 2023’, the process for which will begin in the coming days.
The regional head of tourism has stressed that “the new regulations once again collect the contributions of the sector through this joint work body, which allows us to analyze the operation of this initiative on a regular basis and thus apply the changes that between all are considered pertinent”.
He added that “this project belongs to everyone” and has ensured its continuity over time, as long as it works as before, “as a stimulus for demand in periods of seasonality, and in the face of the negative socioeconomic effects caused by the war in Ukraine and inflation”.
The new Bono Viaje campaign seeks to generate between 400,000 and 500,000 overnight stays and mobilize more than 120,000 travellers who live in the Comunidad Valenciana so that they rediscover the quality and variety of the region’s tourist attractions.
In this sense, the regional secretary explained that the Generalitat Valenciana, through Turisme CV, will allocate a total of 15 million euros to the initiative, the same amount allocated for 2022, and that it has made it possible to register, for the time being, nearly 40,000 reservations in establishments in the Comunidad Valenciana out of season throughout this year.
With regard to the new features for the 2023 edition, Francesc Colomer explained it “will establish a single deadline for submitting applications, which will begin on December 20th 2022 at 10.00am and will be in force throughout the campaign without interruption”.
He added that “the objective is to give more flexibility to the trips, which can be carried out in two periods, the first from January 16th to May 31st 2023, to which up to a maximum of 12 millions of euros has been allocated, and the second from from September 18th to December 22nd 2023, to which 3 million euros will be awarded.
Another of the peculiarities of the 2023 edition is that “the aid will amount to 60% of the cost of the contracted tourist services, without distinction of short or long stay, but with a minimum stay of two consecutive nights in the same tourist accommodation, and up to a maximum of 600 euros for aid granted”.
In addition to accommodation, the beneficiaries of the Bono Viaje may add other services to their reservation that qualify, such as meals (maximum half board), health and wellness treatments, sport activities, excursions and entertainment activities, and parking.
It must be remembered that each applicant can only be a beneficiary of a grant within the validity period of the campaign, and once their promotional code has been assigned, they will have 10 business days to formalize their reservation at any of the tourist establishments participating in the initiative.
Applications must be made only through the telematic process through the electronic processing platform of the Generalitat and will again have two steps to follow: request for an appointment and the registration process at the time and day indicated, which It will require a certificate and electronic signature.
Since its launch in October 2020, the Bono Viaje of the Comunidad Valenciana, from which more than 260,000 Valencians have already benefited, has generated an economic impact in the tourism sector of more than 42.5 million euros, in addition to contributing to keeping open, even in the most complicated moments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourist attractions offered by the Comunidad Valenciana and the maintenance of employment linked to it.
Original Article: Turisme consensua con el sector turístico de la Comunitat Valenciana las novedades del Bono Viaje 2023
