A new €55 million fund from Failte Ireland has been released to support businesses in the tourism sector.
The business continuity scheme will support those tourism businesses that were not eligible for the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) payment or previous Fáilte Ireland continuity grant schemes. Applications open on the 11th of February and grants from between €3,750 and €200,00 are available.
Other key initiatives include
- Investment in Domestic Marketing to drive domestic tourism once the country re-opens including county-specific campaigns
- Employee, business and sector supportson areas such as strategy and leadership, finance and cost efficiency, food and beverage innovation, maximising revenue and service excellence to drive performance and help businesses navigate the challenges they are facing, as well as wellbeing services to support employers and employees at this difficult time.
- The enhancement of urban areas through 31 Destination Town projects across the country and two new funding schemes - the Outdoor Dining Grant Scheme which will improve the quality of outdoor dining spaces and offer reassurance around safety and comfort, and the Urban Animation Grant Scheme to animate our cities and towns with innovative lighting and art installations.
- Preparing for the return of tourism by working with industry to build improved websites and online booking capabilitythrough a new digital transformation programme and continuing to keep Ireland front of mind for overseas buyers through a range of virtual sales events, including Meitheal, one of Ireland’s largest travel trade shows.
David McCoy, Chair of Visit Waterford, says the scheme is very welcome: "There's a lot of good things in it in terms of investing in product, promoting the business and financial supports".
Visit Waterford ran a hugely successful marketing campaign last year; David says it's obviously been a challenging year like no other, but Waterford is in a good place to capitalise on domestic tourism:
"Over the last number of years there's been good investment between the Council and Failte Ireland in terms of structural products like the Greenway, the Viking Triangle, the Musuems. And the fact that people will be looking to holiday at home this summer, Waterford is well placed to take advantage of that. It's taken Waterford a long time to get there but it's in a great place now"
Paul Kelly, CEO of Fáilte Ireland, said:
“This has been the most challenging year tourism has ever faced. The sector’s revenue has declined by a massive €6billion and tens of thousands of jobs have been lost.
"Domestic tourism will be the first to return and we plan to invest significantly in domestic marketing once domestic tourism can restart. Our research tells us that the ‘Keep Discovering’ campaign we launched prior to the COVID-19 pandemic resonates even more strongly with people now and we will be rolling the campaign out at both a national and county level to drive domestic tourism when the country re-opens.
"We are also launching two new funding schemes in collaboration with our local authority partners to improve the quality of outdoor dining spaces in our key tourism destinations and enhance urban areas to make them more appealing to visitors."
For more information check out www.failteireland.ie from the 11th of February
