'Major stimulus needed' for tourism recovery

Pat Dawson warned the closure of Cork Airport for up to 12 weeks, for essential works, could hinder travel plans in the Cork area, despite those flights being diverted through Dublin.

The ITAA said this year will see only around 20% of 2019 passenger levels flying out of the country before a more serious improvement next year and a possible return to normal in 2023.

A “major" stimulus package will be needed to drive a meaningful recovery in Irish tourism, the industry has warned.

The call comes on the back of latest CSO figures showing overseas travel numbers in and out of Ireland remaining “dramatically lower” than pre-Covid levels despite restrictions being lifted last month.

“As an island nation we are massively dependent on air and sea access not just for tourism but also for exports, FDI [foreign direct investment] and broader economic reasons,” said Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) chief executive Eoghan O’Mara Walsh.

“Government will need to step in with a major stimulus package to help restore connectivity – that is the only way the tourism industry will recover,” he said.

Last week, Ryanair group boss Michael O’Leary warned that Ireland’s tourism and aviation sectors could be in for up to five years of difficulties, accusing the Government of basically ignoring both sectors over the worst of the crisis in the past 18 months.

Mr O’Mara Walsh noted a small rise in travel on the back of the lifting of restrictions on non-essential movement.

“However, inbound tourism arrivals have only re-commenced very modestly due to a lack of connectivity to Ireland from key source markets,” he said.

The CSO figures showed that 380,700 passengers arrived in Ireland – via air and sea – in July, with 428,600 departing the country. Both figures were, understandably, hugely up on both June of this year and July 2020.

Overseas travel increases in Julyhttps://t.co/aybeLpODTt#CSOIreland #Ireland #Tourism #Travel #Holidays #LoveIreland #OverseasTravel #AirAndSeaTravel pic.twitter.com/7v8gJS4Fyo

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) August 30, 2021

The CSO said there was one overseas traveller for every five in pre-pandemic times measured last month. In July 2019, as many as 2.2 million passengers arrived into the country, while just under that number departed.

Everyone is in agreement that we remain years away from a full recovery. The best-case scenario is for outbound passenger numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, according to Pat Dawson, chief executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA).

“If outbound is down, that affects inbound,” Mr Dawson said.

“With all the delays, the confusion over what age kids should be able to get vaccinated by, the passport delays and now the schools reopening, the family overseas market has stayed at home this year. We do expect the back-end of the year to see more older aged people travelling, but flight capacity remains a problem,” he said.

The ITAA said this year will see only around 20% of 2019 passenger levels flying out of the country before a more serious improvement next year and a possible return to normal in 2023.

Mr Dawson said the issuing of digital Covid certificates has helped already, but warned the closure of Cork Airport for up to 12 weeks, for essential works, could hinder travel plans in the Cork area, despite those flights being diverted through Dublin.

In the year to date, 919,800 overseas passengers have arrived in Ireland, with just over one million departing the country - down from nearly 12 million on both counts in the same period in 2019.

“This illustrates the ongoing dramatic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on international travel to and from Ireland,” said the CSO’s Gregg Patrick.