[ad_1]
Covid-19 will be a “catalyst” for the remodeling of Dublin akin to “war, famine and pestilence,” was heard at a conference on the future of the city.
Retail is unlikely to regain its position in Dublin city center, and the city’s future is likely to be based on hospitality and “experiences,” said business representatives at the Dublin City Council Reset Summit. .
“Dublin’s city center largely reflects what is happening in Europe, where the bigger the city, the stronger the impacts of Covid,” said Richard Guiney of the Dublin Town business group.
However, he said that many of the challenges now experienced were expected, but not so soon.
“Covid is one of those catalytic factors that occur throughout history, when something negative like war, famine and pestilence consolidates and accelerates trends,” he said.
“Much of what we are experiencing are things that we had anticipated, but where we had anticipated changes in seven to ten years, now we are seeing them in seven to ten months.
“For example, we knew that retail was in decline, we knew that retail was being challenged by the internet, but also by changes in spending patterns with people’s shopping experiences.”
He said Grafton Street and Henry Street are approaching 10 percent vacancies “and there is not a long line of new entrants,” meaning how the city was planned should be considered.
Office workers
Ibec CEO Danny McCoy said it was critical that the office worker population return to the city.
“Fundamentally, Dublin will be a service-driven economy, and the experience economy is where the ‘value added’ will be,” he said. “If those factors are correct for the citizens of Dublin, it will continue to be that basin of attraction for the globalized workforce.
“If we don’t have a plan to get the office back in the next six months, we will really put ourselves at risk.”
Pat McCann, executive director of the Dalata hotel group, said that while the lack of office workers was a problem, “we are still losing millions of tourists who maintain that vitality.”
“If we do not have the distribution of tourism in Dublin, our citizens will be in a worse situation because much of what they are used to having available would not be available because those businesses would not exist,” he said. “So there are real benefits for the citizens of Dublin in having a strong and vibrant hotel industry.”
[ad_2]