Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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206. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which she is engaged with various interests and stakeholders in the tourism sector with a view to identifying those areas worst affected by Covid-19 that are faced with the greatest challenges in their efforts to recover; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2865/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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A Tourism Recovery Taskforce was appointed in 2020 to prepare a Tourism Recovery Plan with recommendations on how best the Irish tourism sector can adapt and recover in a changed tourism environment as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. The Taskforce undertook a public consultation process that garnered over 800 responses, including submissions from 60 organisations. This input helped guide and influence the key pillars of the report and informed the recommendations in terms of the survival and recovery phases for the sector.

The Taskforce presented the Tourism Recovery Plan 2020 – 2023 to me in September 2020. The Plan makes a number of recommendations to help tourism businesses to survive, stabilise and recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. In December 2020, I appointed a Recovery Oversight Group, who report to me on a regular basis with updates on the implementation of the recommendations set out in the Recovery Plan and on the recovery of the sector.  

I regularly meet with and remain open to engaging with a wide variety of tourism stakeholders and representative bodies. The Hospitality and Tourism Forum, which the Tánaiste and I established, continues to provide a platform for structured engagement between the Hospitality and Tourism sectors, the tourism agencies and relevant Government Departments. The purpose of the Forum is to allow key issues to be discussed, with a view to identifying practical actions which could be taken by Government or by industry itself, to support the sectors. 

The tourism sector has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic so I was therefore pleased to secure a record level of funding for tourism in Budget 2022: €288.5 million in total, an increase of €67.5 million over the 2021 allocation. The allocation includes €50 million for business continuity supports and a €35 million increase to the Tourism Marketing Fund to support the delivery of a marketing strategy to help restore inbound tourism to Ireland.

Fáilte Ireland recently announced indicative details of how the €50m funding provided in Budget 2022 for the Tourism Business Continuity Programme will be allocated to assist strategic tourism businesses to recover in 2022. Fáilte Ireland has designed the programme to support those still experiencing the most difficulty as a result of the pandemic. The phasing of the programme has been set out to make sure that support is provided quickest to the businesses that need it most urgently and taking into account other Government funding that has already been received. The Strategic Tourism Transport Business Continuity Scheme opened for applications on 11th January 2022 and the Strategic Ireland Based Inbound Agents Tourism Business Continuity Scheme opened for applications on 12th January. The Attractions and Activity Tourism Operators Business Continuity Scheme will launch on 8th March and the Tourism Accommodation Providers Business Continuity Scheme will launch on 9th March.

The Government recently agreed a number of changes to the major economy-wide support schemes available to businesses affected by the latest public health restrictions. Changes were made to the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), the COVID-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) and the tax debt warehousing scheme to expand the supports available to businesses affected.