Spain to offer senior citizens 2-euro cinema tickets

Part of the plan is to bring them out of their homes and help them move

The Spanish government is proposing that senior citizens make Tuesdays their movie day, thanks to a new plan to subsidize cinema tickets for people aged 65 and above. This group of people will benefit from tickets priced at only 2 euros. But what is the purpose behind this aid?

There are different motivations that can explain that move on the part of the authorities. Speaking in the town of Puertollano on Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the initiative was part of his government’s efforts to promote culture and make it more accessible – especially after the “very difficult” years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

How many people stand to benefit?

The aid scheme can potentially help 9.5 million elderly Spanish people to get a reason to leave their homes, at least once a week, and get treated to some culture. Helping out the country’s cultural sector is, in fact, another reason brought up as a defence of the new measure.

"We will convert Culture into a State policy," tweeted Pedro Sanchez after explaining that he’d visited a family-owned cineplex in the city of Puertollano. The new program will have an investment of 10 million euros and will be launched in collaboration with the main associations in the exhibition sector.

Unidas Podemos, a coalition partner in the Socialist-led government, is supporting the offer so much that they have floated the idea to expand the aid scope for culture to also cover the unemployed and people on a low income, people with disabilities and young people between 15 and 29 years old.

In fact, one year ago the government had already issued a cultural subsidy to young people in the form of “culture vouchers” to the value of 400 euros. The one-time gift is available to people turning 18, which they can use to buy books, records or tickets for concerts, films, theatre and festivals.