Galway wrapped up in fever of the festive kind
Festival fever is in the air with the expected influx of staycationers to Galway making it the busiest weekend for tourism and hospitality in over two years.
With the Galway Races in full swing – albeit with a reduced capacity of 1,000 spectators per day due to Covid-19 restrictions – and with hospitality reopened indoors again on Monday to those who are vaccinated, the city and surrounding towns and villages are in line for a bumper August Bank Holiday weekend.
However, despite the buzz about town, it’s nowhere near the ‘good old days’ pre virus, according to the spokesperson for Galway City Vintners Association, Johnny Duggan of Taylor’s Bar on Dominick Street.
Mr Duggan said: “It’s good to have indoor back. In relation to ourselves, we have a lot of outdoor space anyway, but in relation to the whole town, it’s welcome to have indoors back. It’s good that most places are getting open.
“Thursday to Sunday, the August Bank Holiday weekend is traditionally one of the busiest weekends of the year. It’ll be one of the busiest weekends in a long time but it will be with limited capacity, with all of us operating with 30% or 40% of our normal capacity, with twice the staff!”
Read the full story – with all the latest coverage on both the Galway Races and the easing of Covid restrictions – in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now. Or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie