Labour ministry holiday subsidies expected to support 9,500 people

Nicosia, Cyprus. Labour ministry subsidy programmes are expected to enable around 9,500 low-income pensioners and workers to take summer holidays this year. The schemes provide support for accommodation and meals through participating hotels.

Pensioner programme

Labour ministry officer Michalis Loizou told the Cyprus News Agency that more than 7,500 applications had been submitted by low-income pensioners, exceeding the government budget available for the programme.

The programme has been allocated €1.165 million this year and is expected to support 6,400 people. Loizou said beneficiaries were fully satisfied with the opportunity to take a break from everyday life.

Eighteen hotels are participating in the scheme, which provides a subsidy of €57.50 per person per night. The amount covers accommodation and full board for stays of up to three nights in June, July and September.

The participating hotels are located in the Troodos mountains and in and around the Tillyria region in the island’s northwest. Loizou said the hotels frequently rely to a large extent on the government programme.

Hotel payments and budget

Consultations were held in recent months after hotels sought higher payments due to rising costs. The nightly subsidy was increased this year from €55 to €57.50.

However, the overall budget of the programme was not increased, resulting in fewer low-income pensioners receiving holiday subsidies this year.

Workers’ programme

Labour ministry officer Andreas Sophocleous said the budget for the workers’ subsidy programme rose from €918,000 last year to €936,000 this year.

A total of 2,111 applications had been submitted so far this year, though applications remain open and the final number of approvals is not yet known.

Last year, 2,133 applications were submitted and 1,658 were approved. Of those approved applicants, 532 later declined to use the programme, leaving 1,126 funded applications and 3,092 people who took subsidised summer holidays.