Lengthy highway to restoration for tourism and hospitality, however we’re up for the problem

Freedom is a word used by many governments around the world as the introduction of vaccines progresses.

We can see from our neighbors in the UK; they call it the day of freedom. The French government used the Pharrell Williams song “Freedom” as part of their advertising campaign urging people in France to take up the vaccine. The ad, viewed over 6 million times, shows sections of cinemas, restaurants, schools, workplaces and a sports stadium to show how our lives will return to normal.

Ireland’s hospitality industry will celebrate Freedom Day on July 5th, subject to government approval.

Thousands of businesses across the country will have the opportunity to open fully indoors and again welcome their customers to the pubs, restaurants, cafes and hotels that opened in early June.

This will give thousands of workers whose lives have been turned upside down since March 2020 a huge opportunity, a living nightmare, and it gives them an opportunity to restore some normalcy as we plan a path for stability and recovery in our economy and society .

Kickstart for the reopening

Our front line doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and HSE staff did an amazing job in introducing the vaccine in Ireland, which has given us the opportunity to kickstart the reopening of the hospitality industry.

Some may say this should have happened sooner and others will disagree. As the saying goes: We are where we are. We need to work together to stabilize as many companies in the hospitality industry as possible.

We need to restart our aviation industry and our tourism sector. Our country desperately needs tourists who will come and spend their money so that we can have a viable industry, an industry that can keep and maintain 250,000 jobs at a critical time for our economic recovery.

The government must take a number of measures to support hospitality and tourism businesses.

First, they need to put in place a clear five-year recovery plan for the sector that allows the VAT rate to persist at 9% until 2026.

We need the government to provide wage subsidies for employment until at least the summer of 2022 as our tourism industry begins to develop.

We also need our local authorities to get rid of commercial tariffs by the end of 2021, and we need a debt settlement scheme for tourism and hospitality companies. We did it for the banks, we did it for the builders, and now we have to do it for our tourism and hospitality industries.

The biggest problem for tourism and hospitality companies will be recruiting. Before Covid, we had a skills crisis in the hospitality industry and tourism. This is now composed. We are at a critical hub where some stores will not be able to open all day during the summer due to staff shortages.

Adrian Cummins: The government needs to take a number of steps to support hospitality and tourism businesses.

As tourism developed in Ireland, Cert, the Education, Recruitment and Training Council, was created to provide education, recruitment and training services to the tourism and hospitality industries. Cert subsequently expanded its role to develop the broader business capabilities of Irish tourism companies. Now more than ever we need a Cert.

Why PUP?

It’s not a popular topic to talk about, but Pandemic Unemployment Benefit (PUP) needs to be changed and removed for sectors if they are fully opened. Why are we paying PUP to people who have worked in the hairdressing, retail and construction sectors when those sectors are fully reopened?

Everyone totally agrees with the position on industries or sectors that have not yet opened, especially music, arts, entertainment and nightlife – the PUP needs to be preserved for these people.

With Irish tourism and hospitality emerging from the ashes of Covid, we need to re-establish ourselves as the premier travel destination in the world. Our ministers and industry need to pack their travel bags with brochures about Ireland and reach the capitals of Europe and North America with a message – Ireland is open to business.

We have a long way to go in recovery, but we are up to the challenge.

• Adrian Cummins is the Executive Director of the Restaurant Association of Ireland