A Kilkenny hotelier says it would be mid 2021 before his business and the rest of the local tourism industry recovers from the Covid19 pandemic.
The Ormonde Hotel in Kilkenny City has been closed since March 20 due to government guidelines to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Over 130 workers had been temporarily laid off at the hotel, said general manager of the hotel, Colin Ahearn.
He said he expected that it would be mid-2021 before business, and indeed the local tourism industry, returned to normal.
“It’s going to be a challenge for the coming months, unfortunately, because even when we’re allowed to reopen and even when we start to get business going again, it’s going to take some time, some months for us to get back anywhere close to where we were,” he said.
“I would even suggest it will be in and around mid 2021 before we get back to sort of numbers and figures that Kilkenny was doing so it’s a good bit away before we’re able to get everyone back in our business.”
