Calls for urgent support for the hospitality sector during crisis
HOTEL and guesthouse owners in Wexford are calling for urgent support from local TDs to save Irish tourism and the livelihoods of thousands of people employed in the sector throughout the country.
Commenting on the development, chairperson of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) south east branch, Colm Neville, said safeguarding the health of the public is ‘an absolute priority’ for those operating in the sector during the Covid-19 crisis. However, he said that must ‘go hand-inhand with ensuring we have a viable economy to return to after the crisis’.
‘ The health and wellbeing of our people is intertwined with the economy,’ he added.
Mr Neville said that when the crisis is over people will still need livelihoods ‘including the 260,000 people across the country who, up until recently, were employed in tourism and hospitality’.
‘ This represents 11 per cent of total employment nationally [and] it’s important to note that 70 per cent of these jobs are outside of Dublin which highlights the regional contribution of tourism,’ said Mr Neville.
He pointed that while it’s ‘deeply regrettable’ that over 100,000 people have already been laid off, it is likely that many more people will lose their jobs in the coming days.
‘ Tourism makes a vital economic contribution to our local economy here in Wexford and, up until last week, it supported 9,300 jobs and generated €227m in local tourism revenues annually,’ he said.
Mr Neville said such is the crisis situation within the sector now that, within a short number of weeks, revenues have plummeted by up to 100 per cent.
‘ Tourism businesses have now closed, with thousands of people being laid off on a daily basis across the country,’ he said.
‘We must do everything within our power to ensure that these closures are temporary.’
He went on to comment that the challenges faced by the sector now are far greater than anything that occurred during the financial crisis.
‘We require extraordinary measures and political leadership right now to ensure these closures and layoffs are temporary,’ said Mr Neville.
With that in mind, the IHF is calling on the Government to act ‘extremely quickly’ to ensure that large parts of the economy, including tourism, are not obliterated by the current crisis.
Mr Neville said some ‘seriously impressive measures’ have been introduced in the UK to try and save jobs and help the economy, including the British government’s decision to pay up to 80 per cent of employees’ salaries if businesses keep them on their payroll as the economy crashes.
He said similar measures need to be introduced in Ireland.
Mr Neville went on to comment that the ‘inadequate’ response from the Irish Government is causing alarm across the hospitality sector in view of the urgency required to minimise long-term damage to vulnerable sectors of the economy.
He said the decision to defer commercial rates for businesses impacted by the crisis is futile for those in the tourism sector
that have no revenue as it means they are being asked to accumulate the liability.
‘It fails to tackle the underlying problem and will do little to get our people in Irish tourism back to work as part of rebuilding Ireland.
‘For those businesses most affected, including those that have closed, these local authority rates must be waived until the crisis is over,’ he added.
‘We have called on the Government to implement measures that will assist with cash flow now as well as reducing the rates of tourism VAT, and employer’s PRSI to zero, for the duration of the crisis.’
In addition to local authority rates being waived the IHF is also calling for direct business supports, including finance and marketing assistance.
‘We expect societal and business interruption to last far longer than originally anticipated and this significantly changes the context and scale of Government intervention required,’ said Mr Neville.
Nothing short of drastic intervention will secure the future of Irish tourism,’ he added.
He outlined specific measures that Wexford hoteliers want introduced immediately to protect Irish tourism jobs, including: commitment to pay 80 per cent of employees’ salaries if businesses keep them on their payroll; cashflow/finance measures to assist businesses facing short-term problems, including interest-free loans with deferred capital payment structures; Government supported and targeted bank support initiatives; 12-month payment deferment on senior debt (capital and interest); Government grants – business interruption grants and interest-free capex grants repayable over time; local authority rates and water charges to be waived for the duration of business interruption and initial recovery period due to Covid-19; taxation – tourism VAT rates and employer’s PRSI to be reduced to zero until the industry has recovered; insurance grants to cover public liability and property insurance for businesses for the duration of the crisis; and for Government to require the insurance industry to be more flexible with charges in relation to businesses that are closed.
‘We are all in this together and local tourism businesses, including hotels and guesthouses, are determined to get through this crisis and to get the 260,000 people back to work,’ said Mr Neville.