Dingle faces loss of 1,000 jobs in tourism industry
THE government decision to close pubs in an effort to stem the rapid spread of coronavirus in Ireland will cost Dingle at least 1,000 tourism jobs in the short term and the wider economic impact will stretch much further into the future.
Most Dingle bars had already voluntarily closed their doors on Sunday afternoon when Health Minister Simon Harris ordered pubs nationwide to shut down from midnight on Sunday until March 29 at the earliest. By 10pm the streets were almost eerily quiet, there was no queue of hackneys waiting on the Small Bridge to ferry people home from the pubs. It was like a scene from Dingle of 40 years ago.
On the previous night things were very different. Many of the town’s bars were busy, touring stag parties crowded together and there was little to suggest that the country was battling to control the spread of a deadly virus.
The government decision to shut pubs has been welcomed locally, even though it greatly exacerbates an already critical situation for the tourism industry in West Kerry.
John Benny Moriarty, Chairman of the West Kerry Branch of the Irish Vintners Federation, estimated that at least 300 full-time, part-time and self-employed jobs would be lost in the pub and bar/restaurant trade in Dingle town alone. However, he welcomed the government move because social distancing was not working in pubs.
“Closing the pubs was absolutely the right thing to do… it should have been done sooner,” he said.
Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance Chairman Gary Curran said the closure of pubs would lead to many more jobs losses in the broader local tourism industry. He estimated that at least 600 people work in the accommodation sector in Dingle and many of these jobs would be lost in the short term because B&Bs, guesthouses and hotels have suffered a collapse in bookings for March and April. Yet more jobs were being lost because of restaurants closing down temporarily and Gary reckoned that at least 1,000 people in core tourism businesses would be out of work until May and even then there was no certainty of a rapid recovery.
“March/April is a wipe-out for accommodation. May hasn’t taken a complete hammering yet … but May should be high season and already it’s clear it will be a much quieter month,” he said.
Restaurants in Dingle have also suffered a collapse in bookings and this, combined with concerns for the safety of staff and customers, has prompted many to shut down.
On Sunday the Global Village closed temporarily and “will reopen when advice allows. Owner Martin Bealin told The Kerryman it was very difficult to maintain social distancing and because of the responsibility to ensure the safety of staff and customers, staying open was no longer an option.
“We only have to do this for a few weeks and then we’ll be over it - it’s better for everyone,” he said.
Many other restaurants in Dingle have taken a similar approach and, combined with the closure of pubs, this has taken the nightlife out of the town.
“Restaurants and pubs are part of a package that makes Dingle attractive [and] even if people could travel they won’t come here without them,” said Gary Curran.
This new reality presents an unforeseen challenge to the efforts of the Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance (DPTA) to salvage the tourism season. On Thursday last the DPTA held an extraordinarily well attended meeting in Benner’s Hotel to discuss what can be done to maintain the tourist trade in the immediate future and how to make the most of the later part of the season when, hopefully, the coronavirus crisis will have abated. Much of the focus was on attracting more Irish visitors to make up for the loss of foreign tourists who are cancelling en masse. However, by Sunday evening it was already clear that the strategy held little hope.
“Restaurants and pubs are part of a package that makes Dingle attractive,” Gary told The Kerryman on Monday. “The Irish were travelling until the pubs closed, now they’re cancelling as well.”
On Saturday the DPTA set up a WhatsApp group to allow local tourism businesses stay in touch and inform each other of what shops, restaurants and activities are still functioning. DPTA marketing consultant Caroline Boland told the meeting it was important to communicate the message that the Dingle Peninsula is still open for business and advised tourism operators to ‘ buddy up’ to help each other get through a very difficult time. “This is about all of us working together and supporting each other,” she said.