Tourism Law in Europe

4  the rights and obligations of natural persons and legal entities operating in tourism;  the creation of conceptual documents in the area of tourism in Slovakia; and  the financing the development of tourism. The instruments for financing tourism development provided by § 27a of the Tourism Promotion Act are the following: a) holiday voucher; b) support for the development of cycling tourism; and c) providing investment aid for tourism in the form of:  subsidies for long-term tangible assets and long-term intangible assets;  tax relief;  contributing to new workplaces/jobs; and  the transfer of immovable property or the letting of immovable property for a value lower than the one determined by an expert opinion 17 . The Slovak government programme 2020-2024 18 plans to assess the reduction of the value added tax (VAT) rate for all services in the tourism sector to support tourism after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, in accordance with European Union laws. In addition to accommodation services, where this tax has been reduced to 10% since the beginning of last year, according to the government programme it would also apply to catering services in hotels and boarding houses, travel and information offices, guides and recreation services, as well as personal transportation and the rental of vehicles, sports facilities or the sale of tickets and souvenirs. The Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak republic, more specifically its Tourism Section, is in charge of producing, implementing and evaluating strategic and conceptual 17 Under proposed amendment of the Tourism Promotion Act “ a contribution to support tourism to mitigate the negative effects of a pandemic caused by COVID-19 ” will be supplemented as the special means of support in para d) in the article §27a. To provide guidance to this contribution, newly enacted §27j subtitled as “ Contribution for the elimination of the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic ” provides: “ The Ministry may, in the relevant budget year, by 31 December 2021 at the latest, provide a contribution from its budget chapter pursuant to §27a par. 1 letter (d) to support tourism in relation to the mitigation of the negative effects of a pandemic caused by COVID-19. The grant may be granted to a natural or legal person operating in the tourism sector in accordance with a State aid scheme or a minimum ” (This amendment is nowadays on the agenda of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, it is the sole constitutional and legislative body of the Slovak Republic). 18 Programové vyhlásenie vlády Slovenskej republiky (The Slovak government programme) avaliable at: https://www.nrsr.sk/web/Default.aspx?sid=zakony/zakon&ZakZborID=13&CisObdobia=8&CPT=68 (retrieved on 4 November 2020).