What are the benefits?
Loans for tour operators are loans aimed at reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism business by providing funding in the form of loans to tour operators for them to make refunds to tourists who had their trips cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
What companies are eligible?
The loan is granted for refunds to tourists for the trips cancelled as a result of the pandemic.
You are eligible to get a loan if:
- you are an SME or a large company;
- you have a valid tour operator’s certificate;
- you are not a company or a group of companies in difficulty and you have not been subject to bankruptcy proceedings as of 31 December 2019;
- you have submitted a set of financial statements for 2019 to the Centre of Registers. Your company and other companies of the group (if applicable) to which the borrower belongs must submit their financial statements.
What is the maximum amount?
- Amount allocated to the measure: up to EUR 8 million for tour operators to pay refunds to the tourists who had their trips cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
- The amount of the loan is calculated on the basis of the amount to be refunded to tourists for the trips cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak at the time the loan application is submitted.
- Maximum amount of the loan: EUR 3 million.
Time limits
A loan may be granted and a loan agreement must be signed no later than on 30 June 2021 and a loan should be paid out no later than by 30 September 2021 to cover the refunds due to tourists for the cancelled trips.
Terms of the loan:
- up to 24 months, when the loan amount is below EUR 20,000;
- up to 72 months, when the amount of the loan exceeds EUR 20 thousand (including the cases where the deadline is extended).
The call will be suspended on 31 May 2021, at 23:59, or upon the allocation of the amount earmarked for the measure.
How does it work?
In order to get a loan, you need to submit the following documents:
- SME status declaration (except for cases where the borrower confirms that it is a large enterprise)
- Payroll records (to be submitted in case the borrower wishes that the maximum possible amount of the loan is calculated on the basis of the double amount of salaries inclusive of taxes payable to the borrower’s employees. Further information is provided in the Specification of the Measure.)
- Borrower’s shareholder structure
- Business plan containing a brief description of the business, current and forecast financial position
- Profit and loss forecast and cash flow data reported pursuant to the methodological instructions (Annex No. 1 to the Specification)
- Borrower’s declaration (a free-form explanation) on the cancelled trips to be refunded to tourists
- Proposal regarding securities for the portion of the loan exceeding EUR 1 million (the portion of the loan exceeding EUR 1 million is subject to security; see the Specification of the Measure for more details).
Note: where necessary, the business entity may be requested to substantiate the data by submitting additional documents.
The loan agreement for tour operators consists of:
Increase of the loan amount
If necessary, the amount of the loan for tour operators may be increased upon request of the borrower to INVEGA; however, in any case after the increase of the loan it may not exceed the maximum permissible loan amount per borrower. After the borrower has submitted a request to INVEGA for the increase of the loan amount, INVEGA performs an analogous assessment as in the case of a new loan. Requests for the increase of the loan amount may be submitted not more than twice and no later than by 31 May 2021.
If you want to apply to INVEGA for the increase of the loan amount under the measure Loans to travel and catering service providers, please submit a written application by the company’s authorised representative signed with an electronic signature, indicating the company’s contact details and representative, the date and number of the loan agreement, the granted amount and the additional amount of the loan requested, and the reason for the increase of the amount of the loan (for refunds to tourists for the cancelled trips) to the following e-mail address: tour.vertinimas@invega.lt.
The request for an increase in the amount of the loan must be accompanied by a forecast profit and loss statement and cash flow data reported pursuant to the methodological instructions (Annex No. 1 to the Specification) and the Borrower’s declaration (a free-form explanation) on the cancelled trips under the organised tourist travel agreements which must be refunded by the borrower to the tourists.
