News

Travel Agents Seek Clarity

The Irish Travel Agents Association has again called for clarity from the Government on the current COVID-19 travel restrictions, stating that Ireland is now standing alone in Europe in terms of travel restrictions. The current guidelines have caused confusion for both travel agents and their customers, as the Government has not cancelled flights, but is advising passengers against 'non-essential' travel..

The Association is dissatisfied with the mixed messaging from the Government, and believes that a clear decision must be made between cancelling all flights and offering compensation to affected customers, or implementing ‘air bridges’ between countries in Europe with a similar rate of recovery to Ireland.

The ITAA has previously discussed the option of ‘air bridges’ with a number of Tourist Boards from other EU countries that are deemed to have the COVID-19 pandemic under control.

ITAA CEO Pat Dawson stated,

ITIC's €1.5bn 'Wish List'

Tourism needs €1.5bn in grants and liquidity supports from the new Government’s stimulus package next month if many firms are to survive the summer and the winter with no eoghan0118 money, ITIC has said.

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation launched its wish list for a rescue package because of what it says is the serious threat facing thousands of tourism firms and hundreds and thousands of jobs.

It also warned that the quarantine on British visitors was “a blunt instrument”, saying there were better ways of achieving health safety.

“There is room now for the Government to introduce the policies and investments to get tourism out of this hole because we are being walloped at the moment,” said Eoghan O’Meara Walsh, its chief executive.

Mr O’Meara Walsh said 2020 “will be very difficult” with the industry relying solely on domestic tourism despite 70% of the value of the market normally sourced from international tourists.

Hotel Guests face 'New Normal'

Guests checking into hotels this week will be presented with a ‘New Normal’, according to two leading accommodation specialists. mhall18

Mary Hall, director of Hallmark Training and Ines Guerra, accommodation manager at the Carlton Hotel, Dublin Airport, agreed that hotels must achieve a ‘fine line’ by remaining places of hospitality rather than creating a hospital environment.

They were speaking to Micheline Corr, director of The Firm recruitment consultants in ‘The Firm Optimist’ on-line discussion series.

Ines Guerra said that the ‘new normal’ includes guest rooms stripped of non-essential items such as extra pillows, cushions, magazines and brochures and individual toiletries. Bedrooms will however offer guests unprecedented standards of safety and hygiene which will emerge from sanitization and deep cleaning. ‘In the past, accommodation staff cleaned rooms. Now they disinfect and sanitize as well’, Ines said.

€16.5m investment for Cliffs of Moher

Clare County Council is set to spend an estimated €16.5m, including €2m on a tunnel for pedestrians, at the Cliffs of Moher.

The spend also includes a €6m upgrade on visitor centre facilities; €4m on 'admission, parking and traffic management'; €2m on Cliff Walk improvements and €2.5m on a waste water treatment plant upgrade.

The current visitor centre was designed to accommodate up to 800,000 visitors per annum and last year, a record 1.6 million paid to enter the visitor attraction.

The tender documentation says as a result, a number of items must be addressed to ensure the health and safety of all visitors in the unique environment while the Cliffs of Moher continues with its 2040 strategy.

The Cliffs 2040 strategy team is currently preparing an architectural masterplan for future development on the site for the next 20 years.

Public urged to cancel foreign holidays

Thousands of people who have booked summer holidays abroad are being advised to cancel them amid fears Ireland could be seeing the first signs of a potential resurgence of deckchairs0620

Covid-19.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan issued the plea amid a small but worrying rise in clusters of travel-related infections and an increase in cases of the virus in young people flouting rules here.

The surprise turnaround in the pattern of infection stoked fears of a potential flare-up in the virus and comes as pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, hotels and a range of businesses yesterday welcomed back customers for the first time since March.