The tourism and leisure industry has lost around £174 million in overseas revenue and about £49 million in domestic revenue because of the foot-and-mouth scare. If the situation continues, a loss of £500 million is predicted by Mr Brendan Leahy, chief executive of the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation.
Mr Leahy will tell members of the Oireachtas Committee on Tourism this morning that cancellations of bookings are 20 to 25 per cent up on the corresponding period last year.
"It's a huge hit," he said. "We are proposing to the Oireachtas committee that a rescue plan is needed for the industry, but what that involves will have to be worked out. We need a major kick-start and major promotions overseas. If bookings don't come in over the next three to four weeks, we will definitely be badly affected."
The relaxation in restrictions had helped enormously in creating a positive image overseas, he said.
Irish Hotels Federation chief executive Mr John Power said cancellations were running at £33 million, and 3,000 events had been cancelled up to last weekend. This included meetings, dinner dances and weddings. Bookings for these events in the first 14 days of March were down £8 million over the same weeks last year.
"The net effect is about 1,300 full-time job equivalents have been lost already this year, and at that level of cancellations we will be losing 150 full-time job equivalents every week."
Ms Kathryn Delaney, chairwoman of the Irish Farmhouse Holidays Association, said this was the worst scenario ever for her 400 members. Many provided activity holidays such as walking, horse riding and angling. Under the strict Department of Agriculture guidelines, their losses are considerable. "Every day it's creeping into the high hundreds of thousands. It's serious losses now."