Fáilte Ireland has announced details of its new €55 million Tourism Business Continuity Scheme.
The announcement was made at a special virtual industry event watched by thousands of operators, providers and employers from across the tourism sector.
The allocation was secured by Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media Catherine Martin TD in Budget 2021, and Fáilte Ireland is responsible for developing and administering the scheme.
The scheme will support those tourism businesses that were not eligible for the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) payment or previous Fáilte Ireland continuity grant schemes.
The National Tourism Development Authority also announced its heavyweight domestic marketing plans, investment commitments in outdoor dining and urban animation and its strategic priorities for the year ahead. The event entitled
A summer of revenge travel or the return of rip-off Ireland? The great staycation debate has started independent.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from independent.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
But only 29pc actually took a holiday.”
Mr Tracey was one of the speakers at ‘Survive to Thrive’, a virtual event organised by Fáilte Ireland and attended by over 5,000 Irish tourism and hospitality representatives today.
With 2021 increasingly looking like another year of the staycation, Mr Tracey announced a €6m “heavyweight domestic ad campaign to encourage people to ‘Keep Discovering’ when the time is right.
“We don’t want people to take just one break in 2021, we need them to take multiple breaks,” he said.
The campaigns are ready to go, but providing any kind of timeline for planning or forecasting remains “nigh-on impossible”, added Paul Kelly, Fáilte Ireland’s CEO.