‘Around every corner there will be better days...’
IT is most heartening to see Killarney slowly but surely reawakening from the required COVID-19 slumber and everybody in business in the town is looking forward to the day we all return to do what we do best – providing a top class product and a genuinely warm welcome to the public.
It was wonderful to see every business in Killarney adhering to the requests of the authorities during lockdown and that was one of the big contributing factors in the number of COVID-19 cases in the county remaining low, in comparison to other counties of similar population.
In the interests of public health and to ensure the safety of staff and customers, it was important to do the right thing but now we are eagerly looking forward to every business getting the green light to pull up the shutters, switch on the lights, restock the shelves and flick the sign on the door to ‘Open’.
Because of what we have had to experience over the past two months, many businesses still face very difficult days ahead but Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce will be right there alongside them, to assist and support them in any way we can as we combine our efforts to get this wonderful town back to its rightful place at the very pinnacle of the tourism industry in Kerry and Ireland. We would encourage everybody to support local businesses, as best they can, when they reopen.
It will be a long road back and we will all encounter some very uneven surfaces along the way but around every corner there will be better days.
Paul Sherry, President, Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce
ONE certainty arising from the COVID-19 pandemic is that it is going to change the way in which people meet, congregate and do business in the months and years to come.
There is an obvious nervousness among consumers as they consider returning to the high street again to shop and socialise. The immediate future for many businesses is going to be (as much as is possible) a minimisation of hand to hand contact and large gatherings of people for long periods in congregated settings.
Advertising to consumers across multiple forums has never been more necessary as social distancing becomes the new norm - customers need to be engaged with like never before. This is why the ‘click & go’ option may gain traction. Many of the larger retail outlets are already doing this and it may be time for smaller businesses (who in the past may have relied on footfall) to do the same.
For example, many small businesses have already revamped their websites to deal with social distancing protocols. Yet a better option might be to set up a store app that shows the items available in store. This allows consumers to pre-select and pay for items prior to calling to the shop for collection, lessens congestion in shops, and streamlines social distancing to allow businesses function in an organised way.