Government creates 30 million euro fund to support sustainable development in tourism

The “Grow with Tourism” programme will provide 30 million euros, exclusively from Turismo de Portugal’s own budget, to promote the sustainable development of the sector in Portugal.

According to the decree regulating this programme, published this Thursday, 15 million of the 30 million euros are non-repayable and the other half is repayable.

The budget allocation “may be increased, exclusively using Turismo de Portugal’s own budget and according to the needs that arise during the use of this financial support line”, says the decree, signed by the Secretary of State for Tourism, Pedro Machado.

“The maximum non-refundable support is 400,000 euros per project or, in the case of a joint application, per organisation, with the exception of cases in which the beneficiary organisation is a company, in which case the maximum non-refundable support is 200,000 euros”, reads the regulation.

Beneficiary organisations include “public entities, including those in whose management central, regional and local government entities have a dominant position”, as well as “private non-profit organisations, namely those whose mission is the development of territories and local communities”.

Also “national social economy entities that are private social solidarity institutions or equivalent non-profit entities that have been in operation for more than three years”, and micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as long as they are part of social innovation projects, can apply for support under this programme.