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Red for Canada

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum and Titanic Belfast were lit up in red as the sun set yesterday evening, to mark Canada Day. The illumination was organised by Tourism Irelan EPIC

d in Toronto to keep the island of Ireland to the fore in Canada.

Images of both sites illuminated in red will be shared by Tourism Ireland with influential travel and lifestyle journalists in Canada, as well as via Tourism Ireland’s social media channels – highlighting our strong links with Canada and demonstrating a symbol of friendship between the island of Ireland and Canada.

Covid 'Catastrophic for Tourism', says Kelly

'Covid19 has been catastrophic for tourism', Paul Kelly, ceo of Failte Ireland said yesterday. pkelly1118

Speking before the Oirechtas Covid 19 Response Committee, he said :

'Economically tourism was hit first, hit hardest and will take the longest to recover. The sector has now had four months of no revenue. While revenue stopped the costs did not. Despite the supports the Government put in place, our initial ballpark estimate is that tourism businesses have incurred well over €1billion in unavoidable costs while closed.

Looking to the future, while we are delighted that tourism is beginning to reopen, the path ahead will be extremely challenging due to a number of factors.

Pubs launch VAT campaign

The Licensed Vintners Association , the Vintners Federation of Ireland , and the Ibec representative group Drinks Ireland is calling for a temporary reduction in the hospitality VAT rate; and extending it to apply to alcohol sales in the on-trade (pubs and bars), until 31 December 2020 and as part of the July stimulus programme promised.The RAI is not pub0118 supporting the campaign.

The group, which collectively represents over 5,000 pubs in Ireland, has launched ‘Protect our Pubs’ – a public campaign to highlight the important social and cultural role that the drinks and hospitality industry play in our communities and to demonstrate the loss that would be felt should some pubs not reopen due to Covid-19.

Approximately two in three Dublin pubs have reopened this week. Outside of Dublin, more than 60 percent of pubs remain closed. For the pubs that have, or intend to reopen, Government guidelines will mean a significant change in how they operate and how consumers experience the Irish pub.

Guinness Storehouse Layoffs

The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is to lay off staff when it reopens as the tourist attraction prepares for a drop in visitor numbers.

Closed since March, the Guinness Storehouse is set to reopen for business this month. Guinness storehouse0720

Diageo confirmed this morning that staff will be let go and said that workers have been consulted through employee representative bodies.

The process is expected to be completed by the end of July but the number to be laid off was not revealed.

Around 150 people work at the Guinness Storehouse.

Donnelly urges 'No non-essential travel'

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has reiterated the advice that there should be no non-essential travel overseas.

'There is a real concern about a second wave of Covid-19 if there is a big increase in international travel', he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. sdonnelly0720

The international situation is increasingly volatile and the level of cases contracted abroad has increased in the past week, he said.

"In fairness the airlines had taken a lot of steps to comply with European guidelines to minimise the risk of travel, but there was no such thing as zero risk," he said

On the issue of airbridges, the plan remained that the government would publish a list of airbridges on July 9, but that the list might not say when the airbridges would be activated.