Welcome to the Waste Land - Irish tourism is in an induced coma, and 2021 is starting to slip away

Pól Ó Conghaile

‘Many bid goodbye to their last overseas visitors in 2019. They may not welcome the next until 2022,’ our Travel Editor writes

A woman pictured in the empty departures area of Dublin Airport as concern grows regarding the impact of foreign travel on the level of Covid 19 in the country. Picture; Gerry Mooney

April 10 2021 07:23 AM

"April is the cruellest month,” TS Eliot wrote in his poem The Waste Land.

The line has been on my mind. April is the start of Quarter 2 in business-speak, and following Q1 progress in vaccine arrivals, and curbing our Christmas surge, momentum has stalled.

Irish tourism folk reliant on overseas visitors face a cruel reality: 2021 is slipping through their fingers.

I still think, with vaccinations going well, we could see international travel begin to trickle back in autumn. This week’s Fab 50 is full of reasons to be optimistic about home holidays this summer.

But the international tourism season largely peters out in September and October. Tour operators are now booking 2022, 2023 and beyond. Many Irish tour guides, coach companies, hotels and experiences bid goodbye to their last international visitors in 2019. They may not welcome the next until 2022.

The wounds are not just fresh; they’re still being inflicted.

Before Covid, overseas visitors spent €6.5bn a year in this country, supporting over 250,000 jobs. Ireland has an envied reputation as a safe, friendly, authentic holiday destination, and Tourism Ireland’s research shows people still think favourably about future holidays here.

The message we should be sending is: “Ireland is closed for good reason, but will welcome you back safely as soon as possible; we have a plan for that, and here’s where to find out more.”

Instead, the message is: “Ireland is closed, our travel regime is a mess, we’re making it up as we go along, and there’s no exit strategy.”

April has seen quarantine hotels undermined not just by Dubai-gate and abscondees, but squabbles over whether US and EU countries should be included.

If quarantine hotels are about deterring travel and keeping out variants, fair enough. Passengers from every country should be open to inclusion (or removal) from the list. But if the countries responsible for most travel to Ireland are excluded, then what’s the point? The list of ‘designated’ states is fast becoming this year’s Green List.

Nor is there a roadmap for reopening Irish hospitality — apart from a vague line about a possible June restart for accommodation.

Of course public health comes first, and the Government understandably doesn’t want to be tied to dates. But we’re also watching staff with decades of experience leave tourism, Aer Lingus move planes to Manchester, and another year of overseas tourism go up in smoke.

The danger now is that travellers beginning to book ahead will look to countries with roadmaps and reassurances, and away from those without.

TS Eliot wrote his famous poem after another pandemic, the Spanish Flu of 1918. We need plans now, or risk cruelly continuing Irish tourism’s waste land.