The Competition Protection Council, at the request of the Ministry of Tourism, has approved state aid from the Small and Medium Enterprise Credit Program in Tourism – Incentive for Success, it was announced by the Council.
The Incentive for Success program provides for interest rate subsidies on loans for investments in hotels, guesthouses, and campsites, as well as for investments in facilities within such accommodation establishments. The program also includes a category of loans that finance investments in the renovation of old houses built in accordance with original, traditional, and ambient architecture. It also provides loans for refinancing existing loans used for investments in smaller accommodation facilities.
Loan beneficiaries can be craftsmen, cooperatives, and small and medium enterprises registered for providing hospitality services. The program covers the period from April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2012, and its value is approximately 200 million kuna.
The Council has also initiated an agreement for cooperation with the State Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedures and the Public Procurement System Administration of the Ministry of Economy, Labor, and Entrepreneurship. The purpose of the proposed agreements is to strengthen cooperation by establishing joint bodies that will meet regularly to exchange knowledge and experience and carry out other concrete activities aimed at preventing the conclusion of prohibited agreements and arrangements between entrepreneurs and other forms of violations of competition protection regulations in public procurement procedures. (Hina)
