Tourism vouchers needed to support hospitality industry during low season – Carrigy

Senator Carrigy, Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Media, Arts, Sports & Tourism, said, “I am calling on Minister Martin to work with Fáilte Ireland to create and provide vouchers to all households across the country for use in the hospitality industry during this year’s off season.

“The hospitality industry has suffered dramatically over the last 15 months and an initiative like this would provide much needed revenue as people rebuild their businesses.

“The Stay and Spend scheme was not successful, so we now need to look at alternatives to support our indigenous tourism sector beyond this summer.

“Tourism and hospitality employed over 200,000 people prior to the pandemic. We need to see people returning to work in those numbers again and ensure that those who do return to work this summer are guaranteed secure employment year-round. To do this, we need to support our cafes, hotels and restaurants during the typically quiet period from the start of October until the end of March.”

Senator Carrigy is the Chair of Co Longford Tourism and has been working with Longford Chamber and various local businesses and traders’ associations in Longford to develop a ‘Longford Card’.

“The Longford Card is a unique, local voucher which will be used in selected Longford retail outlets. The aim is to drive spend in retail and hospitality within the county, and it’s been developed in conjunction with the Gift Voucher Shop who produce the One4All Gift card.

“I would like to see a similar scheme rolled out on a national basis, with all households in the country receiving a voucher to be used in Irish businesses within the hospitality industry.

“I am calling on Minister Catherine Martin and her officials to work with Fáilte Ireland to consider such scheme, and provide an assurance to our hospitality sector that after a very difficult year, they will be able to survive not only this summer but also the coming 12 months,” concluded Senator Carrigy.