The country's largest representative body for coach tour operators and private bus operators has said the latest Government plan on the lifting of restrictions is "too little, too late."
In a statement, the Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland (CTTC) said while today's announcement suggests that hope is on the horizon for many industries, it said trading conditions continue to deteriorate significantly for the private bus and coach sector.
The sector is responsible for carrying over 75 million passengers per year, including 2 million overseas tourists which supports 11,000 jobs, and contributes more than €600 million to the Irish economy.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, an Executive member of the CTTC said it could be next summer before some coach tour operators get back to full service.
Feargal Barton, owner of Barton's Transport, said of the 50 coaches in his fleet, half have been parked since the end of 2019, which he said would be mirrored by all coach operators around the country.
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"Unfortunately we're looking at a scenario where for most of our vehicles it will be May or June of 2022 before they will resume services, which is about two-and-a-half years of non-operational service," he said.
"There's a huge concern within our industry that many operators will struggle to be back and in business by the time that May or June of 2022 comes," he added.
Mr Barton said around 58% of their business comes from the North American market, adding that they have no clarity yet on whether they will get to accommodate such tourists.
He said if an operator has a vehicle booked for 44 passengers in September this year, they still don't know whether they will need to use one vehicle or two vehicles.
Mr Barton said certain countries being removed from the mandatory quarantine list would be helpful but would by no means represent a "boom" needed for the sector.
The CTTC is now calling on the Government to provide enhanced funding under the Business Continuity Scheme.
It also wants the Government to give longer lead-in times for restriction-related announcements, to allow coach tour operators sufficient time to plan for international tourist bookings.
The sector is warning that if the Government fails to act on their calls, coach tour operators will no longer be able to guarantee the provision of their services.
"While many industries are set to benefit from today's announcement, the coach tourism sector has received no such assurances, with much dependent on the return of international travel which undoubtedly will take some time," said John Halpenny, Chairman of the CTTC.
Mr Halpenny said while 2020 was enormously challenging for coach tour operators, 2021 has turned out to be an even worse trading year.
"Many of our members are now facing a real prospect of collapse," he said.
Meanwhile, the Inbound Tour Operators Association Ireland said its members have operated without any revenue for 15 months.
It said it needs clarity from the Government on what the rest of this year holds, until recovery can commence in 2022.
Ruth Andrews, Chief Executive said that Ireland has been an outlier, in terms of the "punitive" restrictions applied to international travel.
"A lack of clear or positive messaging from Government on the plans to reopen has meant that competitor destinations have stolen the march on satisfying the pent up demand in our core overseas markets," she said.
"As vaccination programmes roll-out at pace in our core international tourism markets, customers have been calling to say they are ready to come to Ireland.
"We have not been able to provide any certainty on when they could travel, so we have lost business to other destination that announced reopening plans sooner and now have opened," she said.
