Ireland Tourism; There is a need to revamp the ‘Stay and Spend’ scheme

Ireland’s Tourism companies believes that there is a need to revamp and expand the government’s Stay and Spend initiative to further strengthen the tourism sector in the country.

The 270 million Stay & Spend project was launched as a major tourism aid in the July stimulus package to boost consumer spending in the hospitality sector.

But the project did not do well. So far, the project has reportedly raised only 2.2 million.

The plan was made with a charge of 625 euros per customer. In addition, as part of the scheme, the customer will be able to recover the amount spent on restaurants and hotels through tax returns.

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) estimates that so far only 14,000 people have been part of the scheme and that only a small amount of revenue has been generated from the project.

Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, CEO of ITIC, says that despite the level 5 restrictions that followed the expansion of Covid, people still have the opportunity to book to be part of the ‘Stay and Spend’ plan. The project will end in April.

He added that the complex nature was the main reason for the poor quality of the project.

ITIC proposes to revamp ‘Stay and Spend’ as a voucher scheme. In addition, ITIC suggests extending the duration of the project to next summer and offering visitors more attractive offers and activities.

At the same time, Walsh clarified that there had been flaws in the design of the Stay & Spend project from the outset and that the new figures validate it.