The Irish tourism sector faces a "catastrophic situation" unless air bridges are introduced between Ireland and other countries that have their coronavirus situation under control, a key figure in the industry has warned.
Ruth Andrews, chair of the Tourism Recovery Taskforce, says "absolute clarity" is now needed on when some travel will be allowed resume.
It had previously been indicated that a 'green list' of countries deemed safe to travel to and from would be published on July 9th.
However, The Irish Times today reports that those plans are likely to be pushed back until July 20th - and the advice will remain for people to avoid all non essential travel.
Ms Andrews - who is also Chief Executive of the ITOA (Incoming Tour Operators Association) and chair of the ITIC (Irish Tourist Industry Confederation) - spoke to Newstalk Breakfast this morning.
She said that "needless to say" the industry will be disappointed with any delay to a green list being introduced.
She said: "What we need now more than ever is clarity and certainty. Without those two things there's very little confidence left within the industry - particularly on the inbound tourism side.
"I'm looking at companies who are now looking at a devastated balance sheet - 95% of their business has been written off due to COVID-19.
"While everybody is absolutely clear we have to find a way of safely co-existing with this virus and public health is a priority first and foremost... we are talking about businesses that are solely dependent on international export tourism."
'Very small amount of business'
Ms Andrews stressed that initially they're looking at European markets with "similar levels of containment" for any resumption of air travel.
She explained: "We would only look to deal with countries that actually have a similar attitude towards the disease that we have.
"We will be talking about a very small amount of business at this stage.
"If we were to look towards our German or French tour operating partners... we have some potential of getting a small proportion of that business back.
"But they're looking to us right now, and they have people who are still interested in coming to holiday in Ireland... their biggest difficulty is we can't give them any certainty."
Ms Andrews acknowledged that any air bridges would have to be kept under review every few weeks, as the coronavirus situation could potentially change quickly.
She also suggested that people are looking to Ireland with "great envy" due to our response to the virus, and it's important our current low transmission rate is maintained.
However, she argued: "We are looking at a catastrophic situation in tourism unless we get some level of air bridging, and safe protocols in place across Europe that we can engage with.
"Look at all of the guides that don't have jobs... look at the coaching business, where not one bus has rolled yet this season... look at the car hire business... look at all of the activity providers."
She said 2021 is the "best we can hope for" in terms of recovery for the tourism industry, but that will need "clear, concise messaging" about where the country stands.
