Ireland’s tourism sector has suffered about €400 million financial loss in December and has experienced a “staggeringly difficult 21 months” losing about €17 million per day. Such figures have been published by the chief executive of the Irish Tourism Confederation (ITIC).

The devastating situation that the tourism sector in Ireland is facing is mainly the result of the current travel restrictions and other preventive measures that the governments worldwide have imposed to stop the surge in the number of COVID-19 infections, especially from the Omicron variant, SchengenVisaInfo.com said.

According to ITIC, nearly €12.2 billion have been lost to the tourism sector due to the Coronavirus situation. O’Mara Walsh speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland has urged for a long-term plan to help the sector move forward amid the ongoing pandemic situation and prevent further damages that would affect the already devastated industry.

Walsh hoped that in the summer, there would be a rebound of 60 per cent of 2019 levels, which would be “very welcome,” as reported by RTE; still, he added that this depends on “pro-aviation” and “pro-tourism” policies from the country’s government.

Earlier this month, the Central Statistic (CSO) showed that overseas travel in Ireland marked a notable decrease in November. According to CSO data, in November, Ireland recorded 785,800 international passenger arrivals, marking a decrease of a total of 15.1 per cent in comparison to October figures.