Mandatory holiday vouchers

Recreational vouchers will be mandatory in the first stage of their introduction for companies employing more than 50 people, Parliamentary Chair Andrej Danko announced on Monday after talks with Klub 500 and other representatives of employers. Designed to support tourism in Slovakia, the recreational vouchers are slated to be introduced as of January 2019. According to the head of Club 500, Vladimir Sotak, the result of the talks is that providing holiday vouchers will depend on the size of the company in terms of number of employees. Ultimately, businesses with fewer than 50 employees would not be required to issue these vouchers to their employees. Larger companies, however, would thus be required to give holiday vouchers to their employees, but an employee would have to apply for the voucher. In this case, the maximum amount of the voucher would be 500 euros, of which 55% will be paid by the employer and the remaining 45% will be covered by the employee. According to the general manager of the Slovak Hotels and Restaurants Association, Marek Harbuľák, travel vouchers and reduced VAT in tourism are regularly put into place by other European countries. "Dividends from the development of tourism are enjoyed by everyone, whether they be clients, entrepreneurs in the tourism business, the state, towns or villages," added Harbuľák.