The Legal Impacts of COVID-19 in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

24 relief in total, which increased to 2.3 trillion euros by the end of June and 3.1 trillion euros by the end of the year. These are very high amounts even if, admittedly, the actually used or disbursed aid is conceivably only a fraction of the total approved budget of the measures authorised by the Commission (but, to be fair, they exclude non-aid measures and aid that can be implemented without a Commission decision). 80 A conclusion that can be drawn from the chronology of the evolving regulatory background is that, on the whole, the rules of aid granting during the pandemic and the economic downturn have been relaxed switfly, especially under the Temporary Framework, with aid ceilings increased, new aid categories introduced and existing ones tweaked in a way that gave Member States more and more options. The following section will discuss the categories of the Temporary Framework and show examples of how these legal grounds were used to tackle the problems of the tourism sector and the related industries. 6. Aid Categories Available for Tourism and Examples of Aid Measures in the Tourism and Related Sectors This Chapter analyses each aid category introduced by the Temporary Framework and shows with examples from different Member States how these options can be best used to help undertakings active in the tourism sector or providing services linked to tourism. 6.1. Aid Under Article 107(3)(b) TFEU: Aid Categories of the Temporary Framework 81 6.1.1. Limited amounts of aid Aid under Section 3.1 of the Temporary Framework (“Limited amounts of aid”, 3.1 TF aid) is a very flexible one as under this aid category 1.8 million euros (previously, until 28 January 2021, 0.8 million euros) per undertaking, i.e., per group of companies 82 (with 80 Sources: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_838 ( accessed on 1 March 2020), https://www.euractiv.com/section/competition/news/massive-german-state-aid-to-virus-hit- firms-others-in-eu-doing-as-much-or-more-vestager/ ( accessed on 1 March 2020). 81 The information in this section is based on State aid rules as effective on 1 March 2021. 82 Under State aid rules, multiple legal entities qualify as one undertaking if they form a single economic unit, meaning they are controlled together, cf. point 11 of the NoA referred to in footnote 22.