From the Irish tourism industry to local businesses in cities across the United States, this St. Patrick’s Day presented an opportunity to recoup some of the revenue lost since the last public celebrations of the holiday in 2019.  

Ireland welcomed a record number of tourists—20,000— as its tourism season kicked off around St. Patrick’s Day 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic drove that number below 5 million in 2020 and 2021, Reuters reported.

Roughly 19 percent of Ireland's workforce was employed in tourism-related sectors before the pandemic, behind only Iceland and Spain among OECD members.

But North American tourists, who represented nearly a quarter of all visitors in 2019, were beginning to come back this year. Ireland's main transatlantic airline, Aer Lingus saw strong demand over the St Patrick's weekend, which was celebrated with an additional bank holiday this year, a spokesperson said. The airline's capacity is close to 70 percent  of 2019 levels this week.

Likewise in U.S. cities, local merchants were hoping that today’s celebrations will help them recover lost income. In Milwaukee, the return of that city's St. Patrick's Day parade launched a potentially lucrative week, with businesses offering deals and promotions to try to welcome as many patrons as possible in the hopes of getting a much-needed revenue boost, TMJ4 News reported. While there isn't specific financial data for the holiday, Milwaukee's communications manager said that the city has already seen a spike in tourism at a time when the local hospitality industry could use it most.

In Denver, downtown businesses were similarly hoping that the St. Patrick’s Day parade, which took place on Saturday, would provide  a much-needed financial shot in the arm, KDVR News reported. 

And New York’s St. Patrick Day parade was also held for the first time since 2019, Gothamist reported. Mayor Eric Adams attended festivities throughout the day. He began his morning at two Irish bars in Midtown. At Pig N’ Whistle on West 48th Street, he drank a Guinness with the bar owners and members of National Guard from the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry known as the “Fighting 69th.” The group leads off the parade every year. “It’s good to see people back out again,” said Eugene Wilson, one of the bar owners.