Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 2 July 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Impact of Covid-19: Tourism, Arts and Entertainment Sector

Mr. Paul Kelly:

The Chairman has made an important point and identified a challenge on which we need to continue to work, namely, that visitor attractions, more than the general tourism economy, really rely on overseas visitors. Overseas visitors keep visitor attractions going, yet visitor attractions are really important in attracting domestic visitors to areas. Therefore, we really want to do what we can to help visitor attractions to stay open through the winter. It is not just about September because the year goes on. We absolutely want to do what we can to help the visitor attractions to stay open throughout the winter because they are really important to the domestic economy, but they really rely on the overseas visitors, from whom they are not going to get revenue. Not only do overseas visitors pay the admission fee but they also pay money into retail and catering at the attractions. We really want to keep as many of those visitor attractions open as possible but it is incredibly challenging for them. We are considering what supports we could make available to help them to stay open through the winter so they will be able to attract domestic visitors to the regions. It is a real problem, and we have not squared that circle yet.

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