Deputy Minister of Tourism Kostas Koumis announced on Wednesday a grant scheme aimed at the revival of rural, mountainous, and remote areas, with a total budget of €4 million.  It should be noted that the amount allocated to this initiative will be fully covered by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.  Following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Koumis said that “the goals of the plan are to provide targeted support for upgrading or restoring public and private spaces, improving the aesthetics and accessibility of spaces in the countryside, and the development of special forms of tourism in the areas covered by the plan”.  “The wider purpose of the scheme is for the government to support the local economy in the areas in question, to upgrade the experience of visitors and, by extension, to increase the number of visitors to inland areas,” the minister added.  Koumis continued by pointing out that “the scheme is addressed both to natural and legal persons as well as to local authorities, with the scale of the aid provided being staggered and different in each case”.  Following Koumis’ statements, the Deputy Ministry of Tourism released the official details of the funding scheme.  The ministry noted that for businesses, the scale of support ranges from 50 per cent to 75 per cent, depending on the area, with a maximum funding amount of €300,000, based on the De Minimis Regulation.  For local Government authorities, the scale of support amounts to 100 per cent of the total expenditure of eligible interventions, with a maximum funding amount of €65,000.  Moreover, the ministry noted that applications will be accepted until June 28, 2024, at 12:00 p.m., or until the available budget is exhausted. The priority order will be determined based on the submission of proposals.  In the official announcement by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, Koumis said that “supporting mountainous and rural areas is a priority for the Christodoulides government, and today’s announcement reaffirms this once again”.  “The grant scheme we have just announced is a prime opportunity for both local authorities and residents of these specific areas to implement projects that they may have envisioned for years,” Koumis said.  “At the same time, we consider these projects to be very significant for the development of tourism in the inland regions and in other areas covered by the scheme,” he added.  “In fact, the grant scheme we have just announced, or similar incentive schemes, can strategically lead to the diversification of our country’s tourism product and certainly to the increase in the competitiveness of Cypriot tourism,” Koumis  concluded.  Relatedly, the ministry recently announced a scheme to sponsor experiential workshops in traditional crafts, agricultural and livestock product processing, and gastronomy, in order to boost rural tourism. (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: Cyprus Mail