The Minister of Economy and Finance, Alex Contreras, affirmed that the country “is back”, with a view to boosting the tourism after the social and political crisis, an objective materialized in a million-dollar multi-sector plan to reactivate the sector presented this Monday.
“The objective of ‘Con punche Perú Turismo’ is to reactivate one of the green industries or industries without chimneys that have great potential in the country,” said the minister at the press conference exposing this strategy to which the Government is going. to allocate 500 million soles (130 million dollars).
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Luis Fernando Helguero, explained that the plan has been developed thanks to joint work with the Ministry of Economy and that it has three main axes, relief for tourism, strengthening it and the infrastructure improvement.
Regarding the first point, relief for tourism, the plan includes tax flexibility, the temporary release of deduction accounts and extension of tax obligations to medium and small companies (Mypes), a business promotion program and economic subsidies for tourist service providers.
The Minister of Economy explained that They expect that the first credits will begin to be delivered in the first weeks of March.
“Additionally, if we add the other advantages on the tax side to the ‘Con punche Peru Tourism’ plan, we could speak in total of 2,000 million soles (520 million dollars). It is the most important package of support for tourism that has been given in Peru”, said Contreras.
Regarding the strengthening of tourism, work will be done to promote the country’s image, to improve the agility in migratory attention and in the return of the General Sales Tax (IGV) to tourists.
“We are working on the regulations for the return of the IGV to foreign tourists. Tourism is an export of services, therefore, as in other countries, we look for the tourist to recover the IGV that he pays for the products purchased during his visit, ”explained Helguero.
TOURISTIC INFRASTRUCTURE
Both stressed the need to improve tourism infrastructure and security, so the plan includes investments in airport repairs and solid waste management, but also in attending to security and tourist care.
In addition, the strategy has a disbursement dedicated to enriching the tourist experience, whether in cultural visits or in natural areas, where a strengthening of protected areas was also announced.
“We have an investment amount of 62.2 million soles (16 million dollars) for works that improve the tourist experience, such as the improvement of the Llaqta de Macchu PicchuGuañape Islands and even on the Malecón in Lima”, indicated the Minister of Tourism.
The ministers recalled that tourism is still recovering gradually after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that social protests have affected its dynamics.
“The tourism sector, compared to pre-pandemic levels, is still 54% below. This plan has short and medium-term measures to recover pre-pandemic levels,” Contreras explained.
In 2022, this sector accounted for 2.2% of the national GDP (in 2019 this percentage amounted to 3.9%), produced more than one million jobs and left 2,855 million dollars in incoming tourism currencies (in 2019 there were 4,703).
The social protests that began in early December in Peru largely paralyzed tourist activities in a large part of the country due to strikes and roadblocks and the intermittent closure of airports, but the intensity of these is already minimal and monuments such as Machu Picchu opened last week.
EFE
