"Aid to tourism SMEs for their modernisation and upgrading the quality of services provided" Programme

16/2/2016

The programme "Aid to tourism SMEs for their modernisation and upgrading the quality of services provided" is financed by the "Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation" Operational Programme (EPAnEK) of PA 2014 – 2020 and its main objective is to strengthen existing micro, small and medium sized enterprises in Tourism, which is a strategic intervention sector of EPAnEK, in order to modernise them, upgrade their quality and enhance their offering in terms of products and services, enabling them to improve their position on the domestic and international tourism market.

Eligible Enterprises
Existing micro, small and medium enterprises, as set out in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/ΕC, operating exclusively in Tourism, a strategic priority sector of EPAnEk and employing on average in the last three years at least one (1) AWU of salaried work can submit a proposal for this Programme. Existing enterprises are those that had been established by 31/12/2013.

The eligible categories for business activities (Activity Code Numbers - KAD), which will be subsidised in the context of the Action are included in the Call for Proposals of the Programme.

Participation Conditions
The main conditions for participation of enterprises submitting an investment proposal are the following:

• they must operate in Greece and make an investment in a specific region;
• they must operate exclusively under one of the following forms: undertakings of a corporate / commercial character (Societe Anonyme, Limited Liability Company, Partnership or Limited Partnership and Private Company) and sole proprietorships;
• they should not be in a state of bankruptcy, being wound up or special administration;
• they should not constitute undertakings in difficulty  in the sense attributed in the law on state aid;
• there should be no outstanding aid recovery procedures against them;
• to have or to commit to procuring the appropriate infrastructure with the purpose of minimising the obstacles for people with disabilities, wherever required and necessary. Infrastructures mean the building infrastructure, as well as the electronic applications addressed to the customers (e.g. webpages and other electronic applications, such as electronic information and/or service points, etc.);
• to submit up to one investment proposal per Tax ID No.;
• the total amount of de minimis aid received by the company in the past, including the aid from this Action, should not exceed the amount of €200,000 (or €100,000 for the transport sector) within a period of three years (current financial year and (2) previous financial years) prior to the date of proposal inclusion.

Public enterprises, public entities or public organisations and/or their subsidiaries, as well as similar enterprises are not entitled to submit a proposal.

Project's Budget - Geographical Distribution
The Programme is financed with the total amount of €70,000,000 (Public Expenditure) and is allocated in the regions of the country as follows:

• Eastern Macedonia & Thrace, Central Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Western Greece: €28,756,000
• Western Macedonia, Ionian Islands, Peloponnese, Northern Aegean, Crete: €323,044,000
• Attica: €9,800,000
• Sterea Ellada: €2,800,000
• Southern Aegean: €5,600,000
  TOTAL: €70,000,000

The Public Expenditure of the programme is co-financed by the Greek State and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with use of the flexibility clause for financing interventions that fall under the scope of aid from the ESF.

Aid Schemes
In the context of the programme –in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1407/2013 (De Minimis)– projects with a total investment budget (subsidised budget) from €15,000 up to €150,000 will be subsidized.

The rate of aid is set at a maximum of 40% of the eligible expenses of the investment plan. In the event of new personnel being hired, the rate of aid is increased by 10 points only after the achievement of this target is certified.

Up to 40% of the of the corresponding Public Expenditure can be paid in advance by providing a letter of guarantee for the same amount by a bank or other financial institution established in one of the EU member states.

Project Duration

The completion duration of the approved projects is set at twenty four (24) months from the issuance date of the decision for the inclusion of the investment plan.

Eligible Expenditure
The eligible expenditure categories which will be subsidised in the context of the present Pre-Announcement will be set out in detail in the Call for Proposals of the Programme. Indicative categories of eligible expenditure for the two year aid period are the following:

• modernisation and qualitative upgrading of building and other infrastructure;
• Energy / water savings interventions;
• interventions for enriching the offering with new services (extension to alternative forms, interventions of persons with disabilities, etc.)
• infrastructure and services certification;
• publicizing – promoting the businesses in the target markets;
• third party fees.

It should be noted that the payroll cost of existing or new personnel to be employed in the specific project is eligible, with the use of the flexibility clause in the ERDF for ESF funding interventions.

The beginning of expenditure eligibility is set as the financing application submission date.

Submission – Evaluation – Inclusion – Implementation
Financing from the present Programme requires the submission for evaluation of a business plan based on the procedure set out in the Programme’s Call for Proposals.

The conditions for participation, the documents required, the manner of proposal submission, the eligible expenditure categories, which will be subsidised, the procedure for examining and evaluating proposals, their inclusion for financing, the obligations of beneficiaries in the event of approval of the aid application and the other terms of the Programme are described in detail in the Call for Proposals of the Programme (as well as in all the documents that accompany it). It should be noted that during the control and evaluation of the proposals, data will be cross-checked thoroughly so as to verify the accuracy of data contained in the investment proposals and prevent fraud against the EU budget.

The evaluation of the applications for financing will be comparative, based on criteria set out in the Call of the Programme.

Information - Publicity
The Call for Proposals (in greek) as well as all the documents of the Programme that accompany it, can be found here and also in the Special Managing Service EPAnEK website www.antagonistikotita.gr.

Contact e-mail: infoepan@mou.gr

Contact telephone number: 801 11 36300