Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for participating in this discussion. I wish to reflect briefly on the statement by Mr. Simon MacAllister, a valuation, modelling and economics partner in EY Ireland, that tourist behaviour "will undoubtedly be impacted in the long-term by this pandemic, for geopolitical, economic and [possibly] psychological reasons". I was taken by his mention of psychological reasons. Without going into doom and gloom, do the witnesses have thoughts on the matter? The psychological reasons will be a global issue in terms of confidence in travelling. We will face a major challenge in convincing people that it is safe to travel to Ireland or anywhere else. Even after there is a vaccine, we will have to face the issue of people not getting it and so on. Mr. MacAllister's point on the psychology of how to convince people that it was safe to travel was interesting.

Turning to the environmental impacts of travel, environmental issues are already here. They are not just coming down the line. This will have an impact on how people think about travel and tourism. What are the witnesses' thoughts on the potential smash of environmental and psychological concerns and how to make tourism work for us?