News

'Traffic Light' system is months away

The Minister for Transport has told the Dáil that the Cabinet will make a decision next Tuesday on how it plans to implement the new EU traffic light system governing inter- eamonryan1020 country travel.

Eamon Ryan said it is likely to be a month or two before it is in place.

Last week, EU countries agreed to adopt the traffic light system for tourism travel during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It aims to end a confusing patchwork of restrictions across Europe and bring back free movement of people, one of the key principles of the EU.

Mr Ryan said it is his intention to seek Government support to introduce a testing regime that would allow passengers coming into the country to waive the restriction of movement rules that apply at the current time.

Having a testing regime will address a lot of the difficulties and hopefully give people the confidence to fly or to know that it is safe, he said.

Ryanair to close two Irish bases

Ryanair has said it is to close its bases in Cork and Shannon for the winter.

The move comes as the airline cuts capacity over the winter season from 60% to 40% compared to last year. ryanair1217

Its base in Toulouse in France is also to close and there will also be significant base aircraft cuts in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Vienna, it said in a statement.

The airline said increased flight restrictions imposed by governments across the EU, air travel to and from much of Central Europe, the UK, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Portugal have been heavily curtailed.

This has caused forward bookings to weaken slightly in October, but materially in November and December, it said.

Tourism Agencies welcome Budget

Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland have welcomed the measures outlined in Budget 2021 for the survival and recovery of the Irish tourism sector.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “COVID-19 delivered an immediate and devastating impact on tourism and hospitality this year. Since the middle of March, we have kellymartin

had virtually no international visitors.

“We therefore welcome the Government’s and Minister Catherine Martin’s recognition of the extremely serious challenges facing our industry right now. The measures for Irish tourism businesses outlined in Budget 2021 are an important first step on the road to recovery for Irish tourism – including the reduction of the VAT rate from 13.5% to 9% and a fund of €55 million to support tourism businesses in response to COVID-19. When international travellers are on the move again, the reduced VAT rate will ensure that Ireland is more competitive and that tourism businesses can offer good value, to help hold our market share. Tourism Ireland will be communicating the good news about the new VAT rate to our important travel trade partners around the world.

Failte Ireland ceo CEO Paul Kelly said “the record level of funding for Tourism secured by Minister Catherine Martin will help meet the urgent needs of thousands of tourism businesses while providing long-term hope for the Sector.“

“Economically tourism was hit first, hit hardest and will take the longest to recover from the COVID19 crisis. The measures announced in Budget 2021 can provide thousands of hard-pressed businesses a pathway to rebuild and recover. Fáilte Ireland worked extremely closely with Minster Martin and her officials in advance of Budget 2021 and we are extremely pleased that the overall tourism package secured by the Minister reflects the urgency and level of action required to meet the needs of a sector in deep crisis. The increase of €59 million on the 2020 allocation for Tourism will ensure we can build on our current body of work supporting the industry on the ground,”

Galway cancels Christmas Market

The organisers of an annual Christmas Market in Galway say they are disappointed by a decision to cancel this year. galwaymkt

The market has been running from early November to mid December for a number of years, attracting significant visitor numbers to the city.

Galway City Council says that in light of the ongoing pandemic, it has decided to cancel activities and events in Eyre Square for the coming months.

The local authority says no such events will take place in the municipal space "for the foreseeable future" but that it hopes the Christmas Market could return in 2021.

The company that organises the event, Milestone Inventive, is critical of the decision, which it said came despite considerable work having been undertaken to run a re-imagined event, which would have taken account of public health advice.

Agents owed €30m

The Chief Executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association Pat Dawson has said travel agents and tour operators are owed between €25m-€30m from airlines.

He told the Oireachtas Transport Committee that the sector has been "burning cash" over the past six months and spend most of their time trying to get refunds for customers from airlines.

Mr Dawson said it is taking four to five months to get refunds from airlines.

He urged the committee to call in the airlines and get the money back to the consumer.