Urgent support needed for hotel industry
HOTEL and guesthouse owners across County Wexford are calling for an urgent review of business and employment supports for the hospitality sector.
The call comes in the wake of the recent Government announcement that the sector is unlikely to reopen before mid-summer.
Those within the sector are also asking the Government to intervene with banks to ensure that appropriate supports and engagement processes are in place for business owners and their team members until Covid–19 has been suppressed.
Chairperson of the South East branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, Colm Neville, said failure to act now will have major longterm implications that could take years to rectify.
‘Public health must always be the number one priority and we recognise the difficult balance the Government has to achieve,’ he said.
‘However, if the all-important summer period is being eroded, additional supports are required now to safeguard businesses and the livelihoods they support until society reopens and the sector and wider tourism industry can recover.’
Mr Neville said the Government announcement resulted in ‘acute frustration and anxiety for many people’.
He said that prior to the pandemic, 9,300 livelihoods were supported by tourism and hospitality in Wexford, with the sector contributing €227m annually to the local economy.
Mr Neville highlighted that, in addition to creating direct employment, hotels and guesthouses also provide ‘vital infrastructure in support of local business and communities’.
‘In some parts, whole communities are built around tourism,’ he said. ‘A severely devastated tourism and hospitality sector would be a major loss to the economy and society here for many years to come.’
However, he also said such a scenario can be avoided but action must be taken.
‘It wasn’t that long along ago, in the aftermath of the last financial crisis, tourism was the number one sector in terms of job creation,’ said Mr Neville.
‘Government must step up with engagement and the required supports to ensure that the sector and its 270,000 community nationwide can recover.’