“Whilst the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was welcomed by many tourism businesses, the fact that the furlough scheme has not gone live yet means that businesses are incurring upfront staffing costs which it was anticipated that the grants would have supported.
“This meant we would have had an interim cash flow that would have plugged the gap until the Furlough scheme went live, however as the grants have not been distributed businesses may not be able to survive until the end of April much less start making grant applications,” she pointed out.
Tourism businesses have been at the forefront of the catastrophic economic impact of Covid-19 and with income dropping to zero within a matter of weeks and no alternatives to generating income.
Tourism effectively came to a stop in early March with a surge of cancellations due to the escalation of the COVID-19 into Europe with businesses closing almost 4 weeks ago. Unlike any other part of the economy, Tourism businesses were hit at the end of the quietest part of the tourism calendar with reserves and cash flow at a minimum. Investments had been made in preparation for what was predicted to be one of our best years following the success of The Open and the launch of the new brand – Northern Ireland Embrace a Giant Spirit. Tourism accounts for almost 10% of jobs in our economy and generated in excess of £1bn in visitor spend in 2019
