WOT position on the final version of the National Reconstruction Plan

The final version of the National Recovery Plan, which was accepted by the government on April 30, 2021, and sent to the European Commission on May 3, 2021, did not include any of the changes proposed by the tourism industry. As part of the public consultations on the project We made a number of comments regarding the assumptions of the KPO and the way in which the government plans to rebuild Polish tourism and the MICE industry using EU funds.

The main reservations raised by WOT and other organizations and industry groups concerned the planned and systemic diversification of tourism enterprises and retraining of tourism staff. As we emphasized, the negative effect of diversification and changes in professional qualifications will be a slow decrease in the number of enterprises in the tourism and MICE sector, which will in turn lead to a shrinking of the offer of these industries (addressed to Polish and international clients) and to a drastic decrease in their competitiveness and innovativeness on the European and global market.

Unfortunately, in the final version of the National Reconstruction Plan, the drive to diversify tourism enterprises and retrain their staff was firstly maintained, secondly, the amount of funds allocated for this purpose was increased (from EUR 400 million to EUR 500 million), and thirdly, no other aid measures were proposed for the sector, which the KPO itself describes as "the most affected by the pandemic". Despite our suggestions, there is no mention of the MICE industry as a beneficiary of EU funds - neither directly nor indirectly (e.g. as a key industry for implementing the broadly described actions increasing the innovation potential of Polish science and business).

We can only believe that at the stage of implementing the KPO, which includes the entry "The government wants to develop a new social pact in agreement with employers and trade unions, which will define joint anti-crisis actions and post-crisis reforms (...)" it will be possible to create, as part of the dialogue with the government, clear criteria for selecting beneficiaries and solutions that will prove to be of real help to the industry.

The final version of the National Reconstruction Plan can be found here: https://www.gov.pl/web/planodbudowy/kpo-wyslany-do-komisji-europejskiej