SKOPJE, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Economy of North Macedonia has decided to allocate 15 million Macedonian denars (around 289,400 U.S. dollars) to subsidize annual vacations for low-income citizens, Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi told reporters here on Wednesday.
According to the minister, this amount will be spent in the first half of this year on encouraging domestic tourism.
"The Ministry of Economy started to implement this program in 2018 to boost domestic tourism, but also to enable low-income citizens to take a holiday and visit the touristic destinations of the country," Bekteshi said.
Last year, the ministry spent 12 million euros (around 14.3 million U.S. dollars) on vouchers to boost domestic tourism.
According to the minister, only 70 percent of the planned funds for subsidized vacations were actually spent in 2020.
North Macedonia's tourism sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of foreign tourists who visited North Macedonia in 2020 decreased by 84.4 percent year-on-year to just 118,206, according to the country's statistical office. Enditem
