Cheaper holidays for pensioners.

Byline: Anna Hassapi

OVER 2,000 pensioners have availed of the government scheme for holiday subsidies and any other elderly people who wish to apply must do so by Friday, the Labour Ministry said yesterday.

The Director of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance Giorgos Papageorgiou said that so far a total of 9,000 people overall had benefitted from the scheme, for which the state gave e1/410 million.

Some 2,250 were from pensioners he said.

"From the low-income groups we approved 4,259 applications of families with an average of three members, usually a couple with one child," said Papageorgiou.

He said applications for this group will continue to be examined until the end of October.

"For the group of people that are recipients of social benefits we approved 141 applications; for disabled people we approved 650 applications and for others who are entitled we approved 3,753 applications," he added.

The deadlines for the other four groups have expired while the deadline to submit applications for the pensioners group is Friday, the official said. Radio advertisements have been running to remind pensioners to avail of the scheme.

For the pensioners, the subsidised holiday period runs from 1 September 2009 until 31 December, Papageorgiou said.

"As pensioners do not work we thought it would be better to offer subsidised holidays during the autumn and winter periods, as most working people tend to take their holidays during the summer," he said.

The Subsidised Holiday Scheme is operated jointly by the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) in cooperation with participating hotels. "We have had an excellent cooperation with the CTO, which prepared a list of hotels that are participating in the scheme offering special prices for the high-season and off-peak season. Applicants are provided with this list and can then choose the hotel of their choice," Papageorgiou said.

The subsidy on offer is e1/445 per adult or e1/490 per couple, children under two years old go for free, children between two and 12-years-old get e1/423 daily, while children over 12 get e1/434.

"The arrangement made with the CTO and the hotels is that the recipients present the approval of their application to the hotel, and the hotelier sends it to the CTO which provides payment. The Ministry of Labour is responsible for evaluating applications as this is a social measure and the CTO handles the accounting part," Papageorgiou said.

"The measure is part of the wider scheme to combat the effects of the financial crisis on the tourism sector, as well as a measure of support to vulnerable groups of the population," he added.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2009

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