A STEERING group of key figures in the north's beleaguered tourism sector is being pulled together by economy minister Diane Dodds to help plan and prepare for an eventual recover of the £1 billion industry.
Tourism NI chief executive John McGrillen will chair the amalgam of key public and private industry stakeholders, who will attempt to develop a recovery blueprint for arguably the hardest-hit sector in pandemic.
The closing of borders and air routes, and the lockdown of entire regions, has resulted in a total loss of demand in tourism markets around the world.
In Northern Ireland there has been an alarming drop-off in activity in the tourism and hospitality sector, where more than half of the 65,000 people it employs currently being out of work or furloughed.
The crisis is exacerbated by the seasonal nature of the region's tourism offer, coming in low season when cash reserves are at their lowest, while the spring and summer seasons - in which the sector does 70 per cent of its business - have effectively been lost.
Speaking to a Stormont economy committee meeting on Wednesday, NI Tourism Alliance chief executive Joanne Stuart described the impact of Covid-19 on the sector as "absolutely catastrophic".
Minister Dodds said: “While we've made major and decisive financial interventions to help support the economy, including tourism, and given the scale and complexity of the challenges, I'm conscious of the importance of looking ahead and to develop plans for recovery.”
The minister is writing to her Executive colleagues asking them to nominate officials to sit on the group.
