The PIA Turismo and MiniPIA Turismo announcements from the Puglia Region are strategic initiatives recently promoted by regional planning with the aim of improving the quality standards of the tourism sector. Both are already active and will remain so until 31/12/2027.

 

Beneficiaries:

MiniPIA MiniPIA is aimed at Micro and Small enterprises in the tourism sector, including newly established ones, business networks or consortia, as well as self-employed professionals, equated to small businesses as economic operators, according to Article 12, Law 22 May 2017, no. 81. At the time of application, self-employed professionals must have a VAT number. The incentives cover investments ranging from 30,000 to 5 million euros (the previous funding cap, Title II, was 2 million euros).

PIA PIA is intended for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), business networks (composed of at least 5 enterprises), and medium and large-sized enterprises. Investments must range between 5 and 40 million euros. Small businesses must demonstrate an average turnover of at least 1 million euros in the last three years or have commercial agreements with 4-star hotel management brands.

 

Eligible Structure Types The call allows for the request of contributions up to 60% of eligible costs for investments in various tourist structures, including:

  • Hotels
  • Motels
  • Hotel villages
  • Historical residences
  • Hotels with wellness centers
  • Condo hotels
  • All non-hotel categories such as B&Bs, resorts, holiday homes, hostels, and outdoor accommodation facilities like tourist villages and vacation parks are excluded from the list. An exception is made for tourist-residential hotels (residences) operating for at least 6 months, and existing B&Bs created within a farmhouse or a previously uninhabited historic building. The properties must be in compliance with cadastral and urban planning regulations.

 

Objectives: The aim of this incentive is to enhance the territory through the development of essential services and products for the cultural and natural promotion of the Region. The ways to achieve this goal are manifold:

  • Expanding and improving the quality standards of the tourism offer;
  • Improving tourist services with a green and ecological approach;
  • Enhancing environmental accessibility and safety;
  • Digitizing tourism enterprises;
  • Advancing the tourism enterprise 4.0;
  • Training operators for the development of digital and other skills;
  • Qualifying and supporting regional employment, especially female employment in this sector.

 

Fundable Initiatives and Eligible Expenses PIA and MiniPIA Turismo financing does not include the construction of new buildings but the recovery of existing buildings to be converted into hotel activities or the improvement of already operational hotel structures. 90% of the financing concerns real estate assets, and 10% concerns process innovation activities, supported by a report produced by Universities or authorized bodies.

MiniPIA Investments between 30,000 and 5 million euros may concern:

  • The creation of new tourist or non-hotel accommodation facilities (with at least 5 rooms) in existing buildings;
  • Extraordinary maintenance, consolidation, restoration, and conservative rehabilitation of historic or abandoned buildings. For historic buildings, if the building in question is regularly inhabited, a “historicity certification” must be issued by the Superintendent for Cultural Heritage, while if the building has been uninhabited for at least three years, certification from a technician is sufficient;
  • Recovery of rural buildings, farmhouses, trulli, towers, fortifications, period houses, and farmhouses: they can be renovated for hotel purposes without the need for “historicity certification” but must have at least 5 rooms;
  • Expansion, modernization, and renovation of existing hotel structures;
  • Creation or modernization of beach establishments, campsites, and tourist moorings;
  • Creation, expansion, or improvement of sports infrastructure and theme parks.

PIA Investments between 5 and 40 million euros may concern:

  • New tourist and non-hotel accommodation facilities with at least 7 rooms in existing buildings;
  • Expansion, modernization, and renovation of existing hotel structures;
  • Creation of hotel structures in historic buildings;
  • Improvement of the territorial tourist offer to promote the desegregation of tourist flows.

 

Eligible expenses include:

  • Land value and its improvements;
  • Construction works and similar;
  • Machinery, plants, furnishings, and equipment;
  • Preliminary feasibility studies, design, and work management;
  • Patents, licenses, know-how, and technology transfers;
  • Software programs;
  • Wage costs for new hires.

 

These productive investment plans must be integrated with at least one investment of an energy, digital, technological, and waste management nature:

  • Projects of managerial, organizational, technological, and strategic innovation for tourism enterprises;
  • Training projects for the qualification of skills related to digital transformation, sustainable tourism, ecological transition, green conversion, related to the regional smart specialization strategy;
  • Investments aimed at environmental protection.

 

For SMEs, the investment plan for the incentive may also include:

  • Specialist consulting programs, including internationalization;
  • Expenses for participation in fairs.

 

Financial Incentives For PIA and MiniPIA, the non-repayable grant varies based on the size of the company but generally will fund 45% of the total investment, with the possibility of adding an additional 15% derived from the tax credit thanks to the provisions of the ZES Unica (from January 1, 2024, the special economic zone for Southern Italy – ZES unica, which includes Puglia, is established).

 

Disbursement Methods The bureaucratic process to request PIA and MiniPIA is divided into three phases:

  1. Access phase: submission of the application on the Puglia Region’s online platform. It is specified that when submitting the application, the property must already be owned or, to demonstrate availability of the property, a preliminary sale agreement with a 10% down payment on the purchase price must be in place.
  2. Evaluation phase: assessment of the application by Puglia Sviluppo.
  3. Project presentation phase: submission of the final project within 60 days of admission.

Funds will be disbursed on a first-come, first-served basis. The first-come, first-served evaluation procedure examines funding requests in the order of application submission. Once the allocated funds are exhausted, the evaluation process stops. The first-come, first-served procedure does not automatically imply that the order of arrival is the only determining factor. In some calls, there are precedence criteria (e.g., for youth or female enterprises), and in all cases, it is still necessary to pass the formal eligibility assessment.

The form of aid is a non-repayable grant. Non-repayable grants are probably the most well-known and appreciated form of subsidized finance by companies. It is a monetary provision that is not subject to any obligation of repayment. Non-repayable grants are generally (but not necessarily) granted in return for the submission of a specific project, in the form of a contribution in percentage terms of the total expenses presented in the application. A small example: the company participates in a call that grants non-repayable sums for 40% of the total presented projects. If the project involves a total cost of 100,000 euros, this means that a sum of 40,000 euros will be granted, which will not have to be repaid.

There are conditions, as the plan presented must be adhered to, or expenses anticipated, which will then be reimbursed, and moreover, the tourism-hotel use of the property must remain active for at least 3 years from the moment of its opening.

If you wish to renounce the funding after already submitting the application, there are two cases: if the practice is already advanced, i.e., accepted and the funding disbursed, it will be necessary to return the received sum plus interest, otherwise, if the application has not yet received a response, it will be sufficient to make a formal renunciation.

To ensure that PIA and Mini PIA applications are adequately and completely submitted, it is advisable to rely on an expert in the sector, someone who meticulously and carefully manages the funding request. A renowned professional, especially for this kind of operation, is the Chartered Accountant Marco De Marco, with an office in Lecce at Via Giovanni Gentile no. 6, who, in recent years with the Title II funding, and now with PIA and Mini Pia Turismo, is helping numerous entrepreneurs navigate the bureaucratic process and realize their projects.

 

Fundable Properties in Salento The Salento real estate market is rich in historic and ancient properties to be restored and recovered, which could be the subject of Mini PIA Turismo funding, not only by local companies but also by out-of-region or foreign companies, which see Salento as an increasingly attractive investment area.

One of the purposes of the funding is to give new life to these properties full of traditions, which with their architectural elements deeply characterize the territory, making Salento appreciated worldwide not only for its natural resources. We have a heritage with great tourist-economic potential, and the main goal is to realize and align it with current market demands, without neglecting environmental sustainability.

Currently, on our portal www.immobilinelsalento.com, we offer properties for sale that could be subject to Mini PIA Turismo funding. Here are some examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusions Those involved in tourism in Salento today have an additional resource to draw from to ensure that the historical-architectural heritage of this territory is recovered and brought to new life, also boosting the local economy. In recent years, there has been a trend, especially among foreign and out-of-region visitors, in search of the original Salento, with the first step of their journey being the search for accommodation that fully reflects the historicity and originality of the place. There is still much work to be done, but the recovery process is on the right track, with careful restoration to details and customer demands, aimed at rediscovering the most authentic Salento.