East China’s Jiangsu province has released a slew of preferential measures to help the culture and tourism sector offset the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic.
With the approval from the provincial government, the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Provincial Department of Finance released the Measures on Supporting Cultural and Tourism Enterprises to Cope with Difficulties during Epidemic Prevention and Control."
According to the Measures, the province will allocate a relief fund of 100 million yuan to support the cultural and tourism enterprises that have been severely affected by the epidemic to tide over difficulties and boost development confidence.
The money will be used to compensate travel agency companies, green Internet cafe companies and provide priority support for key tourism enterprise projects.
The province will subsidize about 450 travel agencies and candidates will be recommended by prefectural cities at a rate of 15%, based on the scale, contribution, and credibility of the travel agencies in 2019.
Jiangsu will give priority to project funding subsidies and loan discount interest to A-level tourist attractions, key rural tourism enterprises, and star-rated hotels in their application for 2020 provincial cultural and tourism industry guidance fund projects.
The province will also subsidize about 90 green Internet cafe companies and the candidates will be recommended by prefectural cities at a rate of 15% based on the criterion that include innovative format, industry leadership, internal management standards, and good social evaluation.
Jiangsu will waive the interest between January and June 2020 on the loan projects invested by provincial tourism industry development funding in 2019. Tourism companies that are under pressure to repay loans can extend their repayment periods by no more than one year. Green channels will be opened for loans to be given to small, medium and micro tourism enterprises at a low-interest rate.
The provincial fiscal key performance evaluation will not target the provincial cultural and tourism industry funding projects in 2019. Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism will organize performance evaluation on its own according to the impact of the epidemic on the projects.
