O'Mara Walsh: Covid cost Irish tourism staggering €13bn; Vat rate must be kept in budget

The 9% Vat rate is a proven success, is a key recovery tool, and needs to remain in place through to 2025 before it is reviewed

Tourism has been utterly devastated by Covid-19 and rolling lockdowns. File picture: Denis Minihane

It is an indisputable fact that Ireland’s tourism and hospitality industry has been one of the hardest hit economic sectors as a result of the pandemic. An industry that employed one in 10 jobs has been utterly devastated by Covid-19 and rolling lockdowns. 

Estimates by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, or ITIC, the representative group for the sector, point to industry losses of a staggering €13.4bn over 2020 and 2021. In that context, next week’s budget – to be delivered by Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath – could scarcely be more important.