The Slovenian government is finally addressing the problems of over 350 companies of the Slovenian meetings industry, which has been halted for 406 days

The Slovenian parliament recently (21/04/20219) hosted a meeting of working body for economy. Miha Kovačič attended the conference and wholeheartedly represented the interests of the Slovenian meetings industry as the official representative of the initiative committee of the Slovenian meetings industry. In his discussion, he advocated the necessity of taking measures needed for keeping the industry, which comprises 350 companies and directly generates 271 million income, alive. Miha Kovačič emphasised the industry’s multiplicative effects, and the crucial role the industry plays. Furthermore, he expressed the wish of the entire industry to restart activities as soon as possible.

At long last, Slovenia has witnessed the long-awaited outlines of the aid package, set to be accepted as part of the interventional act on tourism. The State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Msc Simon Zajc, put forward the guidelines at the meeting.

Below is a summary of the measures presented at the meeting:

ONE-TIME SUBSIDY FOR THE TOURISM AND MEETINGS INDUSTRY
Companies that recorded a loss of 50% or more of their revenue, are entitled to the above-mentioned subsidy. The subsidy will be paid out in 10% of the total revenue loss. For instance, if the loss of revenue in 2021 in comparison to 2019 is 55%, the subsidy will amount to 5,5% (10% of the total loss).

DIRECT SUBSIDY
The government will pay out the additional subsidy of 500 EUR to all those who are employed in the industry.

AID FOR THE MEETINGS AND EVENTS INDUSTRY
For the first time since the start of the corona crisis, the meetings industry has been explicitly given a helping hand. The measure is known as the Protective Shield and is similar to the Austrian aid plan. The government should cover 80% of financial damage resulting from events being cancelled or restricted due to COVID-19. The aid encompasses events from the 1st of July 2021 to the 31st December of 2022.

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MSc Zajc also confirmed the extension of certain measures already in place, such as aid for the self-employed and those on hold. We are all eagerly awaiting further details and the draft of the act, set to be prepared in the upcoming days. In any case, the response from the Slovenian meetings industry is finally positive, while the year-long hard work of the initiative committee to save the Slovenian meetings industry has borne results. At the start of the crisis, almost no one knew what the meetings industry was. Now, on the other hand, it has become one of the talking points of the media, the parliament and the expert community.

Above all, the responses are optimistic as the guarantee scheme will ensure a quick restart of events. Nevertheless, the date of reopening the industry remains undecided. We hope that this will happen soon with favourable epidemiological conditions.

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