The ICF will contribute the total amount of the loan (€30 million) and the Ministry of Business and Knowledge's Directorate-General for Tourism will allocate €4 million to the cost of financing the scheme. The loans will be used to finance the improvement and modernisation of hotels, tourist apartments, campsites and rural tourism establishments. This initiative is part of the third pillar of the Strategic Tourism Plan of Catalonia 2018-2022, which highlights the need to promote investment and reinvestment in tourism for the effective mobilisation of private capital to develop new tourism products and services and improve those that already exist.
The ICF, together with the Ministry of Business and Knowledge's Directorate-General for Tourism, has launched a new line of loans to finance projects for improving and modernising tourist accommodation. The aim of this line of financing is to enable hotels, tourist establishments, campsites and rural tourism establishments to carry out building and refurbishment work that allows them to make qualitative improvements to their facilities. Establishments must be based in Catalonia and be at least 2 years old.
"ICF Turisme" loans will be available to establishments that wish to finance greater accessibility and improvements to the quality of services and accommodation that involve building work or refurbishment. The credit line also includes financing for energy efficiency projects, as well as research, development and innovation projects in tourist establishments.
Loans will range from €60,000 to €1 million, and borrowers will be able to finance up to 100% of the project. Repayment is over a maximum period of 10 years with the option of a two-year period of grace.
The ICF is allocating 30 million euros to this credit line and the Directorate-General for Tourism is contributing a total of 3,942,346.65 euros to a fund that will serve to discount up to 2% of the interest rate. The funds to offset interest come from the collection of the tax on stays at tourist establishments. This initiative is part of Pillar 3 in the Strategic Tourism Plan of Catalonia 2018-2022, which highlights the need to promote investment and reinvestment in tourism and to mobilise private capital effectively to develop new tourist products and services or improve those that already exist.
Applications must be submitted through the ICF web portal (www.icf.cat).
The Catalan tourism sector
Tourism is a strategic sector in the Catalan economy, its competitiveness being key to maintaining its leading position in the world. Among the most important figures, we would mention the following:
- It generates between 11% and 12% of GDP
- 400,000 employees affiliated to Social Security (2017)
- 8% of those employed in Catalonia.
- 1 M international tourists, who generate more than 20,600 million euros in spending
- More than 6,100 tourist accommodation establishments (hotels, campsites, apartments and rural tourism), adding up to 620,000 places. The breakdown by type of establishment is as follows:
TYPE
ESTABLISHMENTS
PLACES
TOTAL APARTMENTS
251
14,460
TOTAL CAMPSITES
351
271,971
TOTAL HOTELS
3,045
313,747
TOTAL RURAL ACCOMMODATION
2,465
19,529
TOTAL
6,112
619,707