Rebuilding of the tourism sector will take a long time
MAUREEN McGettigan O’Connor, director of the Royal Hotel in Bray, has said that any state support for the business community in the coming months will need to come in the form of grant aid rather than a capital loan.
She said that further debt would add another burden to the already suffering sector.
‘Our hotel and leisure centre operation has been dramatically affected by Covid-19,’ she said. ‘Business has completely ceased. We have been unable to do anything proactive during this time due to the restrictions. Along with other catering businesses we made the decision to open our takeaway food offering at the weekends to try and keep the awareness and brand alive.’
The business on Bray’s main street employs 80 people.
Maureen said that it will take a long time to rebuild the tourism sector and other affected business. ‘We have lost many international travellers to Bray due to the fear of travelling and it will be very hard to operate the business by virtue of the social distancing restrictions.’
She said that a huge amount of effort and adherence must be carried out to open effectively to obey HSE guidelines.
‘This will automatically affect our occupancy in all our food and beverage outlets by 60 per cent,’ said Maureen.
‘It is vitally important for all the businesses in Bray to work very closely together to keep Bray in the forefront in people’s minds when they are choosing where to travel for accommodation and socialise for food or drink,’ she said. ‘We need the local community to come together and the support of Wicklow Tourism, Chamber of Commerce and the Irish Hotel Federation to work together.’