Enhance Irish tourism by giving out vacation vouchers, sector urges Authorities

The government has been asked to replace a poorly received tourism tax break with “consumer-friendly” vouchers.

The Association of the Irish Tourism Industry Yesterday it was outlined how hard the domestic tourism sector was hit by the Covid-19 crisis and what steps are required for a recovery in the coming months.

His suggestions include the immediate replacement of the stay and spend The program was launched in October to empower hotels, bars and restaurants through tax breaks for tourism spending. It encouraged people to spend money across the hospitality industry, with the promise to receive 20 percent of their spend in income tax credits between October and April.

Repeated bans and the comparative complexity of the system, as well as delays of up to a year in getting money back, have resulted in few people taking advantage of it. It was originally expected that the treasury would cost around 270 million euros, based on spending by more than two million consumers of around 1 billion euros.

The sales figures show that by mid-January only expenses of EUR 6.8 million were claimed. 43,196 revenue has been uploaded to the revenue tracker. This would mean potential total costs of just under EUR 1.4 million for the Ministry of Finance. According to the Revenue, only 4,441 applications had been submitted by January 18, totaling EUR 1.5 million, which means that the system has cost the treasury little more than EUR 300,000.

The tourism association said stay and spend needs to be redesigned as a consumer-friendly upfront voucher program to encourage home vacation.

An online seminar held yesterday found that Irish tourism and hospitality were disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with an estimated 90 percent decline in sales and 160,000 job losses.

The Confederation said that with the news of the vaccine’s launch and the UK-EU short-term Brexit deal, “hopes have risen that Ireland’s largest indigenous industry and largest regional employer will be revitalized and revitalized in 2021”. However, the third wave of Covid-19 infections and the subsequent lockdown have resulted in “the first few months of the year remain tense for businesses, demand is non-existent and businesses need government support to survive”. Tourism is only to be expected in the third quarter of 2021, as the existing government financial measures will be required “much longer than expected”.

The organization’s proposals include an expanded one Covid Restriction Support Scheme for the tourism sector larger grants for business continuity, the expansion of Employment wage subsidy system and an exemption from municipal rates for the entire year 2021.

She also wants the government to appoint a dedicated Minister of Tourism who will extend the VAT rate by 9 percent through 2025, double tourism agency budgets, and run a global St. Patrick’s Day campaign led by the Taoiseach to raise awareness true Ireland around the world a digital strategy to support the reconstruction of tourism infrastructure and an analytical transformation of tourism data.