Subsidy programmes offered by the labour ministry are expected to allow around 9,500 people to organise summer holidays this year, with the ministry offering subsidies for both low-income pensioners and workers. In total, he said, €1.165 million was allocated to the programme this year, with 6,400 people therefore receiving subsidies to be able to go on summer holidays. He added that beneficiaries of the subsidy were “fully satisfied, as they get to escape from everyday life”. This increase, however, did not go hand in hand with an increase in the programme’s overall budget, meaning that fewer low-income pensioners benefited from subsidies summer holidays this year. Of those applications, 532 people eventually declined to use the programme, meaning that 1,126 applications were funded, and exactly 3,092 people partook in subsidised summer holidays under the programme.