How the coronasubsidies for tour operators are distributed

BIRD.BG’s project to track spending to tackle the coronary crisis has been enriched with a new list of companies that have received aid, this time from the Ministry of Tourism under a European programme. The maximum amount of this aid is EUR 200 000. The analysis of the data for 840 companies showed that the majority of tourism companies receive up to BGN 1,000 or much less than the promised 10% of last year’s turnover. However, several apparently not accidental companies have taken grants of more than BGN 100 000. There are also bosses in the tourism business who have got the aid with several different companies, exceeding the limit of 200 000 euros.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Mariana Nikolova definitely
does not shine at handling the English language
and this does not go unnoticed. But her linguistic skills don’t seem to stand up so badly to the work she has deployed to save tourism in the face of crisis. She will be remembered, of course, for the hotel inspections she personally conducted as a “secret client.” Secrecy has enveloped the distribution of money from the European programmes to tour operators, which happens in an absurd way in a very wide range

From 20 to 200 thousand euros

Borissov’s cabinet announced a grant application procedure that in theory was supposed to provide operating capital to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on Bulgarian micro, small and medium enterprises operating as tour operators and/or travel agents under the Tourism Act. The funding comes under the Operational Programme “Innovation and Competitiveness” 2014-2020, and the procedure is named “Support to enterprises registered under the Tourism Act as a tour operator or travel agent to overcome the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

The minimum and maximum amount of the grant requested for each individual project is determined by the project selection procedure BG16RFOP002-2.092 with a grant of BGN 10 million. The amount of the aid may be 10% of the turnover of the companies for 2019., but the amount may not exceed BGN 391 166 (EUR 200 000).

A check in the ISUN shows that the submitted applications are worth 60 million BGN, but only 10 million BGN have been provided under the programme.

In fact, with so many candidates, if the 10 million in question are divided proportionally, there is no way that each of the candidates would get even 1% with 10% claimed. But the distribution is not proportional, and some find themselves much better off than others.

The list of the lucky beneficiaries is not public and has not yet been entered into the ISMS, but the RDB has obtained it from its own sources. By well-established tradition, this list does not contain the companies’ UICs, which makes it difficult to process automatically, but our team has overcome this challenge. The full list can be viewed here.

Immediately it is seen that 21 companies receive about 4 million of the 10 provided to support the industry, the remaining companies receive 6 million in total, the last 520 of them receive a subsidy of less than 10 thousand BGN. Thus, instead of the promised Mariana Nikolova about 10% of last year’s turnover, the majority of companies in the tourism industry receive between 0.8 and 1 percent. Except some.

“To him that hath shall be given”

And here, as with other government handouts, the gospel prediction of the apostle Matthew applies with full force – “To him that hath shall be given, and he shall increase.” And as it will become clear, some of them have, because they have been generously granted from the state sofa before.

At the top of the list with the maximum subsidy of 391 166 BGN is the company “Abax”, owned by “Travel Media”, behind which stands Gorcho Pasev. However, Pasev is also behind “Directions.com”, the publisher of the famous travel sales website. This company has received 177 128 BGN under the same programme. The third company with Pasev’s participation is Pi Group Plovdiv with 36 417 BGN subsidy,
detects our system
that makes the connection between companies and their owners.

This brings the total subsidy per owner under this programme of the Ministry of Tourism alone to BGN 604 711. But this is not all. Pasev’s companies have applied and
other programmes
for coronasubsidies, having received a total of BGN 697 408 so far.

“Directions.com is one of the major suppliers of air tickets and hotel accommodation to the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Finance, according to our procurement contract tracking system. The contracts won by the company exceed BGN 1.6 million.

Another powerful firm with more than 21 million from procurement is“Elite Travel International” of Krasimir and Anelia Baciiski. It was subsidized under the corona programme with the modest for its size 123 344,72 BGN.

“Premier Tours, which is owned by Israeli citizens, is subsidised with BGN 195 583 under the Ministry of Tourism’s programme and some BGN 300 000 in other Crown subsidies. The same company has brought about half a million with public procurement between 2008 and 2015. Its clients include the Ministry of Agriculture and the Public Procurement Agency.

Two companies with the same ultimate foreign owner, the Ukrainian Olga Dromina, have also settled with large subsidies. These are “Tez Tour Balkans” with 201 610 BGN and “Tez Tour Bulgaria” with 169 639 BGN.

At the bottom of the table are the “losers” with help from double-digit numbers. From“Slaviana Travel” supported with 93,49 BGN to“Kavi Holidays“ subsidized with 51,90 lv. These ridiculous allowances hardly cover the company’s costs of filling in the application forms and processing the data.

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Разследващата журналистика е разузнаването на гражданите. BIRD се финансира от дарения. Ние не публикуваме реклами. Не получаваме държавни субсидии. Не разчитаме на грантове. Финансирането чрез малки дарения от читатели е гаранция за нашата независимост. Включете се, за да продължим да разкриваме злоупотреби и да държим отговорни властимащите. Използваме Вашите пари за хонорари на журналистите, командировки, изграждане и поддръжка на нашите информационни системи, такси за фирмени и имотни регистри у нас и по света, придобиване на техника и специално оборудване, осигуряване на нашата безопасност и други важни работни мисии. Важно: Ако дарявате всеки месец това ще ни даде възможност да планираме и организираме нашата работа. Благодарим Ви! Нас ни има, защото Вас Ви има!

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