The third edition of the Bono Activa Comercio programme, an initiative by the Xunta de Galicia in partnership with the Galician Federation of Commerce, has finished with an excellent level of participation, both in terms of the number of participating businesses - the highest since its launch - and the number of beneficiaries, thus demonstrating its capacity to boost and encourage shopping in the local commerce of towns and cities.

The main new initiative of this edition, and with the aim of maximising its operation, there was no limit to the number of users who could download the vouchers (one per person), but instead the exchanges were prioritised until the total amount of discounts made reached the planned credit of 2.5 million euros.

In this way, around 134,000 customers benefited from discounts on their purchases, which enabled sales worth 12.5 million euros to be generated in record time, exhausting the credit for the scheme in just three weeks.

Impact on local commerce

The strength of the programme is reflected in the number of businesses that joined the initiative, which on this occasion reached 7,058, the highest figure of the three editions held so far. The sectors that benefited most were textiles, with 38.7% of the sales generated, followed by footwear, 14.5%, toys, 10.2%, opticians, 7%, and hairdressers, 6.24%.

By province, the greatest economic impact was recorded in Pontevedra and A Coruña, with 38% and 34% of the sales generated, respectively. Thus, in Pontevedra the total amount of discounted sales was almost 4.7 million euros, and in A Coruña more than 4.2 million euros. In the Ourense province, the programme generated more than 2 million euros, and in Lugo almost 1.5 million euros.

Consumers could download a 30 euros discount voucher from the website www.bonosactivacomercio.gal which could be redeemed in participating shops, which could be found on the website by filtering by town hall. The value of the vouchers was reduced according to the value of the purchase: for amounts between 20 and 30 euros, a discount of 5 euros was applied; the discount was 10 euros for purchases of between 30 and 50 euros; and above this amount, the discount was 15 euros.

With this initiative, the Xunta is helping to boost the sector and involve citizens in the promotion and support of businesses in their towns and cities, which are key to the local economy and to the settlement of the population in rural areas.