Mr. Feargal Barton:

On behalf of the members of the CTTC, I thank the Chair and members of the committee for inviting us to present today and for providing us with an opportunity to discuss the serious issues affecting coach tour operators. I am a member of the executive council of the CTTC and managing director of Bartons Transport in Kildare. I am joined by my colleagues on the executive council, Mr. James McGinley of John McGinley Coach Travel in Donegal and Mr. Mike Buckley of Kerry Coaches in Killarney.

The CTTC is the largest representative body for private bus and coach operators, with some key industry names among our membership. We are a proactive organisation, focused on engaging collaboratively with stakeholders in the transport area and on delivering results for our members spread across every constituency in Ireland.

Covid-19 has brought severe disruption to the sector and to the membership of the CTTC. International tourism has been brought to an especially abrupt halt, while domestic business for members disappeared during the successive lockdowns introduced from mid-March 2020. With the country entering a new Covid-19 phase, passenger demand remains greatly dissipated. This is exacerbated by the imposition of maximum capacity rates and low consumer confidence.

When the 2019 tourism season ended, little did coach tourism operators think that they would still be wondering about the viability of the industry in the summer of 2021. In March 2020, the industry ground to a complete halt with the onset of the pandemic. In 2019, a record 11.2 million overseas visitors came to Ireland and coach tour operators made a significant contribution to the overall success of our tourism product. Responsible for directly attracting 2 million international visitors every year, coach tour operators invest substantial sums of money in marketing Ireland’s tourism product abroad at no cost to the State or its agencies. The industry carries coach passengers to every corner of Ireland, giving employment not just to coach tour operators and drivers, but also to the staff of hotels, retail and hospitality outlets, visitor centres and other small enterprises. In 2018, coach tourism helped to contribute €400 million to the Irish economy and therefore our strategic value to Ireland cannot be underestimated.

The Government last provided funding to the coach tourism sector in the July stimulus plan of 2020. While this funding was hugely appreciated by the industry at the time, many operators had exhausted their resources by the time those moneys were allocated in March 2021. No further support has been forthcoming in 2021 and this has created a major viability problem for a sector that is responsible, as I said, for bringing two million international tourists to Ireland annually. For this reason, the CTTC is calling on the Government to urgently provide funding to the sector via a supplementary budget allocation in the upcoming finance Bill. This is a necessary step to safeguard an industry with tangible and strategic value to the State and it would also ensure that the quality of the coach fleet remains at a standard that markets Ireland’s tourism product positively. Funding should be made available to cover losses incurred in 2021 and it should replicate the €10 million provided under the business continuity scheme for coach tourism. The implementation of such a measure should mirror the previous scheme. Such an initiative would greatly help the industry and assist in keeping many operators in business as they await a partial return to normality in the 2022 tourism season.

The CTTC also recommends continued funding for 2022 under the business continuity fund for coach tourism to reflect the damage done to the sector. The peculiarities of our industry mean there is a long lead-in time for international bookings. With huge uncertainty engulfing us regarding the variants of Covid-19, the continued effectiveness of vaccines and a potential crisis in confidence affecting our consumer markets, it is essential that a support net is provided on a contingency basis in 2022. This will be crucial to enabling us to be ready to scale up operations when the country’s tourism revival begins in earnest.

I thank the committee again for the invitation. We are happy to hear observations from members and to take any questions they may have.