To ask the Minister for the Economy why Tourism NI returned £5 million of COVID-19 money, as announced by the Minister of Finance on 10 February 2021.

Tourism NI made a specific £5m funding bid to finance a Strategic Tourism Asset Support Scheme. The objective of the scheme was to assist major tourism businesses meet unrecoverable fixed costs which they have incurred as a result of being unable to operate during the COVID Pandemic.

The scheme was to be aimed at those businesses which were major drivers of “out of state” visitor numbers and whose survival is critical to the future recovery of the industry.

Subsequent to submitting the bid, and following engagement with officials from the Department for Communities, it became apparent that those businesses, which Tourism NI were seeking to support, were likely to have those costs covered through bids which they had made to the Department for Communities Heritage and Arts Support Programmes.

As the costs are now being met from alternative funding schemes, Tourism NI surrendered the £5m to be made available for other priorities to be identified by the Executive.