Just when things were moving in the right direction, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, in their press conference last Monday, that the worst is yet to come.

This is on foot of the increased number of corana virus cases reported in some countries, especially in the southern and western states of America. Last week Leicester City in the UK was forced to lockdown again, which brings the seriousness of the situation very close to home. It would be unthinkable if we were to return to lockdown again and have our businesses shut down. It is true that, as the easing of restrictions continue, we may have become a bit more relaxed on the social distancing rule and the wearing of masks advice. This could lead to a second wave of the corona virus, so we shouldn’t lift our foot off the pedal just yet.

The social distancing rule of 2 meters apart still applies but is not always easy or practical to follow. For example when travelling on public transport or being in a small shop you will inevitably brush past someone. The uptake of the wearing of masks is very low, despite the advise from the HSE and government. They (the government) made it mandatory that face masks must be worn on public transport. Despite this I have seen many buses pull up beside bus stops and no one on the bus, including the driver, was wearing a mask.

It is good to see that service dealers’ premises are providing the facilities for their customers to keep safe. They only allow a certain number of customers in at a time, as well as providing hand sanitisers and gloves.

There has been some confusion over the past week regarding holiday travel abroad. The government is due, by the end of this week, to give a list of ‘green’ destination countries that are allowable to travel to. However, the HSE advice is somewhat fifferent. They recommend not to travel abroad unless it is absoloutely necessary. The Chief Medical Officer, Tony Holohan, even went as far as to say that any holidays abroad that have been booked should be cancelled. Instead, the HSE recommend that holidays should be spent at home in Ireland. Holidays at home or ‘staycations’ as they are now known, may, somehow, help the service dealer industry.

An example would be golfing holidays. There are hundreds of wonderful golf courses around Ireland that would make ideal destinations for weekend or week long breaks, especially the links courses where non golfing family members could avail of the nearby beaches (provided that they are able to keep social distancing guidelines of course). Supporting golf clubs this way means that the clubs generate much needed income which, in turn, allows them to maintain their course, enabling them to have the finance to purchase new machinery or repair existing ones if needed. One does not have to be reminded of the financial crisis in 2008 when new golf course machinery sales plummeted as banks wouldn’t give loans to clubs, especially those whose membership numbers dropped.

Our public parks and gardens also need to be maintained. They should be supported too during this time. If our holiday money is spent at home this will help the tourist industry, which will benefit other sectors such as our own service dealers and distributors. Referring back to the 2008 financial crisis, I remember how the collapse of the construction industry had a knock on affect on other sectors (including our own) such as the bread making industry which saw bread roll sales plummet due to builders not buying breakfast rolls as they had been made redundant.

So tourism is important for our dealers and distributors, all be it in an indirect way. We should encourage our customers to holiday at home and visit our wonderful amenities of parks, gardens and golf courses.