Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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238. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the supports her Department will provide to the tourist industry in view of the tighter travel restrictions. [5637/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The July Stimulus and Budget 2021 provided a significant package of tax and fiscal measures to build the resilience of the economy and to help vulnerable but viable businesses across all sectors. Of particular relevance to the tourism sector were the following measures: 

- There was a record level of funding for Tourism overall, an increase of €59 million over 2020 allocation, to just under €221 million.

- Based on this allocation, a €55 million business continuity scheme was launched on 1st February by Fáilte Ireland to help strategic tourism business survive the pandemic and drive recovery. The Scheme will contribute to the fixed costs of identified tourism businesses that are not eligible for CRSS to support their survival.  It will provide an equitable level of payment to the CRSS for qualifying businesses and the first phase which was launched on 1st February will cover businesses such as tourism attractions, activity providers, and caravan and camping sites.

- The VAT rate for the Sector was reduced to 9% to help improve competitiveness and viability of businesses.

- Two separate funds of €10million each were introduced for Coach Tourism Operators and Ireland Based Inbound Agents Business Continuity Scheme in the last quarter of 2020. 

- Funding of €5 million has also been provided for upskilling training and to improve digital presence.

- A €26m adaptation fund for the tourism sector to adapt their premises to meet COVID-19 safety requirements. 

In addition, the Government has introduced a number of horizontal measures that have been of assistance to the tourism sector including the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), tax warehousing, and the Commercial Rates waiver, which was recently extended to the end of Q1 2021.  In regard to the CRSS, as at 28 January 2021, Revenue Commissioners’ data shows that €244m was paid out under CRSS, of which approximately 64% (€155m) related to Tourism and Hospitality businesses. 

The measures introduced have been critical in assisting tourism businesses to survive the hugely challenging situation brought about by the pandemic. I, along with my colleagues in Government, will keep these supports under review in the coming months.