News

'Gathering 2' to revive Tourism

Fáilte Ireland is developing a proposal for a rerun of the year-long Gathering series of events that rebooted tourism in 2013, as the sector warns revenues from overseas visitors gathering0420

may fall by 70 per cent.

The Gathering was a series of more than 5,000 tourism events nationwide in 2013. It was aimed at the global Irish diaspora to attract them here for a holiday, as tourism was identified as a vehicle to drag the economy out of recession. It brought in an estimated €170 million in 2013 and kicked off a seven-year expansion of the sector.

The 'Irish Times' reports to-day that the idea may now be revived, possibly for next year or the year after. No decision has yet been taken, but Fáilte Ireland has already established a group to examine it and other ideas, and preliminary findings will be presented to Ministers in two weeks.

McCann expects restrictions until September

Dalata ceo Pat McCann says that he expects a lot of the lockdown restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to remain until September. mccann0320

Speaking to 'Inside Business', a podcast from The Irish Times, he said: “I would love to think we’d see some flickers of recovery from September. I have no expectation of anything before that. In reality, this may go on until December and into the New Year.

“I feel the restrictions will have to go on longer than people expect. A lot of the restrictions will not end before September and if that was the case then you would have a slow return to normality.”

Permission for Wetherspoon pub

JD Wetherspoon has secured planning permission for its new Irish outlet in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock although there is now a question mark over when it will proceed.Dublin wetherspoon1119 City Council has approved the company’s application to convert the former HQ bar and restaurant on Hanover Quay, which Wetherspoon’s bought last year for an undisclosed sum, and amalgamate it with the former Nutbutter restaurant on Forbes Street.

However, a spokesman for Wetherspoon said all building projects were being “put on hold” currently due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Covid 19 to hit hotel developments

Commercial real-estate adviser Savills Ireland has estimated that Dublin’s hotel development pipeline will decline by up to 32 per cent as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandem newhotel0420

ic.

While the boom in visitor numbers to the capital over the past decade has seen the addition of some 4,000 new hotel bedrooms, the immediate impact of the coronavirus on the tourism sector has prompted Savills to reduce its previous forecast for the delivery of 5,926 new rooms between March 2020 to the end of 2022, to 4,057.

Commenting on the numbers, Tom Barrett, director at Savills’ hotel division, said: “Just a few weeks ago, before the current restrictions, Savills visited Dublin hotel construction sites to observe physical progress. Based on these visits – and our own analysis – we expect hoteliers, developers and investors will complete most projects that have commenced construction, although the delivery and opening dates will slip.”

Carluccios in Administration

Restaurant chain Carluccio's has entered administration, putting approximately 2,000 jobs at risk, after challenging trading conditions on the high street were exacerbated by the carluccio0420

coronavirus crisis.

The group has 71 restaurants in the UK and Ireland.

Joint administrators from advisory firm FRP have been appointed to explore options including a sale of all or parts of the group, and said that the primary purpose of the move is to rescue the company.