Clare Tourism Trade Blog

The purposes of this wide reaching survey were to understand planned reopening by sector, measure expected operating capacity and advance booking levels, uncover any booking trends different from the norm and identify the most useful business supports which have been available during the Covid crisis.

Consumer’s response to the announcements has been immediate. Intent for travel within ROI in the next 6 months rose significantly, as did the proportion of those booking domestic holidays. An influx of those targeting short breaks in July was also noted, signaling consumers are eager to get away.

The tourism and hospitality sectoral guidelines, aligned with the Work Safely Protocol, have been developed collaboratively to assist businesses to apply guidance to their operations. The guidelines are regularly updated by Fáilte Ireland to reflect Government Public Health advice and related regulations. This includes any further guidance that is issued following work by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre & National Public Health Emergency Team on the application of the existing social distancing requirements in specific, defined and controlled environments in the hospitality industry, during periods of low incidence of the disease.

Carved out by nature, County Clare is an amazing place of great beauty, tranquility and visual contrast. It provides all the ingredients for wonderful holidays.

County Clare is less than 130km from end to end yet, within it, you will find all the components of a magical holiday. Our seascapes and landscapes combine to form a natural backdrop to a wide range of exciting experiences, all wrapped up in the warmest of warm welcomes.

Lack of clarity and uncertainty continues to drive consumers’ behaviour and travel plans.  The overall numbers remain mostly flat with some lifts in intent. As always however, it is the data beneath the surface that provides insight into some of the lead indicators and diagnostics. It is these which point towards the opportunities for this year’s summer season and continued support for Fáilte Ireland plans.

There’s relative stability in intention measures, with uncertainty surrounding inter-county travel the primary barrier to intent/booking. In the short term, we don’t expect any notable shifts in these metrics until the Government makes a definitive statement on this. Some noise of international travel continues, though we have evidence this is hollow optimism with low confidence that trips abroad will actually happen. Nonetheless, something to keep an eye on given recent media attention to EU Covid travel certificates aligned to the summer season.

The Tourism Business Continuity Scheme will provide support to providers of certain tourism services who have been unable to qualify for assistance under the Government's Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS). It is designed to help these tourism businesses offset their fixed costs incurred last year and support them to continue operating through 2021.  

Consumers are still weighing up their options at this point and there remains an expectation that they will be able to travel overseas later this year.

Fáilte Ireland are pleased to be able to share their plans and priorities to support resilience and survival in the short term and recovery of the tourism industry in the long-term with you.

This is a living document which means as Government restrictions and Public Health guidelines evolve, this document will also evolve to reflect new Government advice and changes to protocols when they emerge. All sectoral guidelines have been developed in line with the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, Work Safely Protocol and the Resilience and Recovery 2020 2021: Plan for Living with COVID 19, and based on the latest health guidance available from the Department of Health and the HSE. The links to latest guidelines will be included throughout the document.

Changes to the adaptation fund, with a particular emphasis on pubs.

The Burren Ecotourism Network has been named a ‘Best Community Tourism Project’ by Lonely Planet. The global travel company unveiled the accolade in its prestigious Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2021.