Two million Euro grant to local MSMEs in tourism
A EUR2 million grant, targeted at tourism based MSMEs affected by the pandemic, has begun paying out to businesses and is set to continue till the end of May.
Source - Twitter - MFMC
With the aim of both stimulating and reinforcing a more resilient and diversified economy in the Maldives, the European Union has announced EUR2 million set as grant aid for the tourism sector of the Maldives.
With the main focus of assisting MSMEs to recover from the effects of the pandemic, the project has designated EUR1.4 million for a direct transfer component, allowing the funds to be used in the physical restructure as well as investments. The remaining EUR600,000 is to be utilised as technical assistance. This includes training programs in high impact areas such as improving businesss operations, fiscal management, sustainability in both waste management and energy, as well as increasing access towards international markets.
The eligibility criteria, applicable for guesthouses and safaris given their scale of economy, are as follows:
- The applicant has to be a local individual, sole proprietorship, partnership and/or company registered and doing business in the Maldives in the guesthouse/safari sector.
- Guesthouse/safari vessel registered, and in operation and/or with a valid operating license as of December 2019, January 2020 or February 2020.
- Guesthouse/safari vessel with 40 beds or less.
The application deadline is May 31 2022, at 1400 hrs. Within the first week, over MVR1,221,000 was dispersed, and by the second week MVR 1,364,000 was released. As the applications keep coming, weekly dispersals are planned, with another MVR 866,000 already prepared for dissemination. So far, a total of 65 establishments have benefited from this grant, a combined 1407 bed capacity, including 56 guest houses and nine safari vessels.
The total dispersement has reached MVR2.5 million already, and agency vows to assist any and every applicant who meets the required criteria. According to the MFMC, their intention is to be able to reach as many establishments as possible, with MVR22 million still to be dispersed. While applications were aplenty at the beginning, the trend has fallen off. Barely a month into the programme the agency would like as many establishments to still apply and benefit from this grant.
