The organisation representing visitor experiences and attractions around Ireland has warned that its members' survival is at a tipping point.
The Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions (AVEA) said these businesses must be allowed to reopen under Level 3 restrictions for the summer, in order to access a lifeline.
"The VEA sector is set to miss another season of international travel, meaning two full years of lost revenue for our members," said Sean Connick, AVEA chairman.
"With the sector continuing to operate in survival mode, it is critical that visitor attractions are given the desperately needed lifeline of access to domestic tourism during the summer months."
The 85-member strong AVEA includes some of the country's most popular tourist attractions, including the Guinness Storehouse, the Cliffs of Moher, the Book of Kells, Tayto Park, the National Gallery of Ireland and Saint Patrick's Cathedral.
The association is seeking to have the sector included in the list of businesses that can open at Level 3 in the the Government's recently revised Covid-19.
It argues that it had been a leader in adhering to public health guidelines when allowed to trade.
"The opening of visitor attractions under Level 3 was correctly amended in November 2020, in line with other tourism, hospitality and retail businesses," Mr Connick said.
"It is our assumption that the non-inclusion of visitor attractions under Level 3 in the revised plan is a simple oversight by Government rather than a policy reversal."
The AVEA has argued that visitor attractions are professionally controlled spaces and those that run them are highly experienced in managing the flow of people.
Most include large open spaces it also claimed, with many primarily operating outdoors.
Mr Connick said it is also vital that it is vitally important that visitor attractions are primed and ready to drive international tourism recovery once travel resumes.
"If we are anyway serious about retaining the unique selling point and identity of our cultural experience offering to international visitors, we cannot allow parts of the VEA sector to fail and disappear due to financial losses incurred because of Covid-19," he added.
