Madrid.Exceltur, an Alliance of Organisations for Excellence in Tourism yesterday criticised the 24.5 percent drop in funds being allocated next year to the Tourist industry in the National Budget .
José Luis Zoreda, Exceltur's Vice-President said that the downturn in the budget for Tourism doesn't tally with claims by Central Government that it is a priority sector, nor does it do justice to one of the few sectors of industry which is actually sustaining the national economy.
Although Zoreda said that members of Exceltur understood the severe financial restrictions with which Spain was having to cope at the moment, he claimed that Tourism required certain priorities to boost the sector. He said that funding being allocated to Tourism was not the same as that being set aside for other industries such as automobile manufacture. We feel that we have been sidelined in favour of other sectors of the economy, Zoreda said.