Minister Shane Ross has appointed a Government Task Force to help get Irish tourism back on its feet following the COVID-19 shutdown of the economy. All though it is made up of many stakeholder from the tourism industry, Minister Ross choose not to appoint a coach tourism operator to his high level group.

“Very disappointed,” is how Coach Tourism & Transport Council (CTTC) Chairman John Halpenny described his feelings at not having a coach operator or a representative from the sector appointed to the newly formed Government Tourism Task Force. He said: “Of course, we welcome the establishment of the working group, but it is a pity the Minister did not feel that we had a useful input.”

Nobody can be sure how this year will end up business wise for bus and coach operators, but the outlook is surely bleak. It is important that this Task Force hits the ground running to try and recover what is possible for the remainder of this season and make sure the foundations are properly laid for next year.

While terms of reference have not yet been published, the CTTC will be making strong representations to the Task Force committee and offering assistance where it can in terms of information. Speaking after a ‘Zoom’ meeting of CTTC executives,  John Halpenny said that the organisation and membership has a lot on their plate in terms of financing businesses in preparation for a return to work and making sure that there is work there for the buses and coaches. “We have a proposal for Government and we expect that like all sectors of the economy, we will get the support we need to re-establish our operations. In the past week or so the CTTC have been forming alliances with other business groupings with similar challenges and it is hoped that the strength of these combinations will yield positive results,” concluded John.