The Government’s announcement on the roadmap for re-opening business and society has given us all hope for the future. While we know that re-opening must be taken cautiously and on a phased basis in adherence with public health guidance, we look forward to taking the first steps towards recovery with the return of domestic tourism this summer.
To drive domestic tourism when the country re-opens Fáilte Ireland is rolling out the ‘Keep Discovering’ campaign from the last week of May at a national, regional and county level with a focus on the urban areas that we know are experiencing lower levels of occupancy.
This heavy weight campaign will run across TV, cinema, press, PR, radio and digital channels to inspire people to take breaks in Ireland this summer and into the shoulder season. We will also be rolling out a campaign on our COVID-19 Safety Charter to offer reassurance and boost public confidence in the safety of tourism businesses when the country re-opens.
Our priority is to support businesses to re-open safely. The detail around re-opening is still unclear and we are working with our colleagues across Government to get clarity so that we can update the operational guidelines for each sector in line with public health advice and protocols. We appreciate the urgency on these guidelines and will update you as soon as possible. We have updated our COVID-19 Safety Charter training and simplified the process to make it easier for businesses and staff to complete.
A range of other supports are available on our Business Supports Hub to help businesses prepare to re-open on areas from financial planning and optimising operations to sales and marketing. We understand that as businesses prepare to re-open, labour supply is a challenge and, in conjunction with the Tourism & Hospitality Careers Oversight Group, we have developed a webinar and toolkit with practical information on recruitment at this time.
Over the coming weeks, we will also be rolling out training supports to help new and returning customer facing staff to ensure they have the skills to provide excellent customer service when businesses re-open.
The tourism and hospitality industry has shown remarkable resilience in the face of adversity and as we prepare to re-open, hopefully for the last time, I want to assure you that Fáilte Ireland will continue to work to support the industry on the road to recovery. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved in our local Destination Recovery Taskforces across the country. These groups were established in collaboration with Local Authorities to bring together tourism stakeholders in each area.
The work of these Destination Recovery Taskforces has been vital in forming a collective response to the COVID-19 crisis and identifying local solutions and initiatives to support the recovery of the sector.
Paul Kelly,
CEO, Fáilte Ireland
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