Sentiment is important, possibly nowhere more so than in tourism. The cancellation of the Six Nations match against Italy might be costing the IRFU up to €5 million, but it is costing the State’s hospitality sector more than that. Tourism Ireland boss Niall Gibbons has said he had “extremely serious” concerns over the potential effects. “It’s important to say to the industry ‘we have to take this virus seriously but not panic’. A strong economy in the Republic, with near full employment, wage growth and recovered asset prices, means there is a strong and, for a while anyway, somewhat captive market to target.

Source: The Irish Times March 03, 2020 06:00 UTC