18 million Euro to relaunch Southern Italy

The programme is called Poin (Operative Interregional) and its main objective is to value Italy's heritage. Poin pushes on economic development in order to improve the touristic offer in the Southern regions of Sicily, Calabria, Campania and Puglia. This comprises a variety of projects ranging from restoration of historical sights, building renovation and maintenance of natural reserves.

Invitalia is the National Agency responsible for attracting investments and fostering enterprise development. They allocated ?18 million for spurring the tourism sector of the Sothern Italy. Poin funding program was activated at the end of 2013, as continuation of Fesr Funds (Europena Funds for Regional Development), another economic leverage in use from 2007 to 2013. According to the data released by Invitalia, such initiatives have triggered incentives amounting to ?260 million, following an initial public investment of ?120 million.

Some examples of funds allocation includes ?59 million dedicated to developing tourism facilities: the Naples Gulf, the health spa in Ischia and the renewal of Donnafugata Resort, a five-star hotel complex covering a total area of 280 hectares in the province of Ragusa. The office set up for this purpose at Invitalia by the Minister of economic development will accept requests until depletion of resources.

The procedure includes non-repayable contributions and easy loan terms to support enterprises in management costs and also in services of technical assistance. Invitalia also contributes in this direction with the activation of eight strategic poles. They have the final objective to identify and cater the major touristic and cultural flows. The agency offers full support to those enterprises who present a complete business plan in line with the core values of Invitalia, which include promoting local attractions in the fields of natural, cultural and historical tourism in the context of Southern Italy.

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