Open letter with 486 signatories from trade associations and businesses in Ireland’s experience sector makes call for reopening from December

Open Letter to Taoiseach argues that businesses in the hospitality and experience sector have been hit disproportionality without sufficient evidence to back such moves

Ireland’s experience sector, which encompasses the hospitality, tourism and events industries, and their suppliers, has called on Government to give them an opportunity to reopen, or open to a greater extent, in a smart, planned and sustained manner from December.

In an Open Letter to the Taoiseach today, with 15 signatories from representatives in trade associations and 471 signatories from representatives in individual businesses, they said that while things will be very different this Christmas, meaning it won’t be ‘business as usual’, organisations in the hospitality and experience sector are regulated and have proven to be responsible players throughout the crisis. These businesses, if allowed to reopen, will play their part in maintaining strict Covid-19 measures.

This is the second Open Letter from the experience sector to the Taoiseach, who also wrote to him in October. Today, they have again criticised Ireland’s response to Covid-19, which they say has hit parts of the economy like the hospitality and experience sector disproportionality and without sufficient evidence to back such moves.

This has and will continue to have a major long-term impact on businesses across Ireland. The Open Letter highlights how Ireland’s experience sector contributes €4.5 billion in wages, salaries and employment taxes every year, employing 330,000 people.

It says that the ability to open in a sustained manner, with restrictions, from December will give what could be a final lifeline for many businesses in the sector.