Tourist Buses, Riccardo Verona “Fuel at its highest since October, reduced Euro VI bus rate essential”

(Finance) – “It’s coming confirmation that the escalation of fuel priceshas reached a new peak, reaching the unsustainable levels of the end of 2023. Unfortunately, the current international context is characterized by fextreme instability and this is a factor that significantly affects the activities of Italian tourist bus companies. The moment is crucial for tourist buses: we ask loudly and once again thereapplication of reduced rates on diesel excise duties also for Italian Euro VI tourist buses“. So in a note Riccardo Verona, President of An.bti – Confcommercio.
“This measure, in addition to guaranteeing the competitiveness of our country’s companies, would represent an incentive for the purchase of new Euro VI vehicles (the only vehicles with emissions equal to almost 0 and at the same time suitable for long distances) and would facilitate that green transition requested by the EU. Last year, thanks to the work of An.bti – Confcommercio, the category was able to benefit from the reduced rate for the 5 months of the high season (from April to August). with tangible benefits for the entire country system. We hoped that this measure could have been made structural or at least replicated for the ‘hot’ months again this year, but with regret we must note that we are now in the midst of the high season without a reduced rate and with companies in great difficulty. The one we ask for it is a measure that we are entitled to like all the other categories that operate in transport and who have always been able to benefit from it on a par with our European competitors. It is not understandable to follow up on European requests only when they penalize the bus tourism category and not listen to them when they would instead include it among the eligible beneficiaries of a subsidy. Italian tourist buses transport over 150 million tourists every year and represent ‘The Wheels of Tourism’, therefore we ask for the right consideration and protection from the institutions”, concludes the note.