Michael Collins warns of tourism 'collapse' after sharp visitor falls
Michael Collins said CSO figures show a dramatic fall in tourism, reporting a 20% drop in visitors in January, a 30% drop in February, a 31% fall in visitor spending and a 33% fall in overnight bed bookings. He described the trend as a collapse unless immediate measures - including cutting the 13.5 per cent VAT to 9 per cent and freeing up hotels used as IPA centres - are taken.
The CSO figures cited by Michael Collins show visitors down 20% in January and 30% in February. Visitor spending fell 31% in those two months compared with last year and overnight bed bookings were down 33%.
Collins said the decline is a concern for cities including Dublin, Galway, Cork and Bollywood and a disaster for rural communities such as West Cork, Kerry and Connemara if the trend continues.
He attributed the falls to the high cost of staying in Ireland, food costs "spiraling out of control" and low hotel availability because many traditional hotels are now being used as IPA centres.
Michael Collins urged immediate countermeasures, calling for a reduction of the 13.5 per cent VAT to 9 per cent and the freeing up of hotels taken for other uses to restore capacity for tourists.
A government reply acknowledged that "more and more hotels are decanting in respect of IPA and in respect of BOTPs" and said officials will seek to increase visitor numbers. The reply noted global confidence issues may be a factor, described it as early days to write off the industry, said the tourism product is resilient and flagged upcoming big events and ministerial engagement on the matter.
Key figures
The CSO figures cited by Michael Collins show visitors down 20% in January and 30% in February. Visitor spending fell 31% in those two months compared with last year and overnight bed bookings were down 33%.
Areas affected
Collins said the decline is a concern for cities including Dublin, Galway, Cork and Bollywood and a disaster for rural communities such as West Cork, Kerry and Connemara if the trend continues.
Causes identified
He attributed the falls to the high cost of staying in Ireland, food costs "spiraling out of control" and low hotel availability because many traditional hotels are now being used as IPA centres.
Proposed measures
Michael Collins urged immediate countermeasures, calling for a reduction of the 13.5 per cent VAT to 9 per cent and the freeing up of hotels taken for other uses to restore capacity for tourists.
Government response and outlook
A government reply acknowledged that "more and more hotels are decanting in respect of IPA and in respect of BOTPs" and said officials will seek to increase visitor numbers. The reply noted global confidence issues may be a factor, described it as early days to write off the industry, said the tourism product is resilient and flagged upcoming big events and ministerial engagement on the matter.
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Transcript
Teacher CSO figures over the weekend on visitors to this country have cast a serious doubt on our once glorious tourism sector. The figures show we have a drop of 20 per cent visitors in January and 30 per cent in February. Visitor spending has dropped 31 per cent in those two months in compare to last year and overnight bed bookings are down 33 per cent. This is a concern for cities like Dublin, Galway, Cork, Bollywood and others but is also a disaster for rural communities like West Cork, Kerry, Connemara and other areas and more if this trend continues. The reason given is the cost of staying in Ireland, the cost of food sparing out of control and the low availability of hotel space as many of our traditional hotels are now IPA centres. This is not a dip, it is a collapse unless measures are immediately put in place to counteract this drop such as a 13.5 per cent VAT drop to 9 per cent and the freeing up of hotels to the country. What are this government plans in counteracting this huge wall in the tourism sector? First of all I would say to you that actually more and more hotels are decanting in respect of IPA and in respect of BOTPs over the last while. I would say that obviously we are going to do everything that we possibly can to increase numbers. There are significant issues globally in terms of confidence in the world economy, that may be a factor playing out. Again, it is early days yet to be writing off the tourism industry and I think our tourism industry is very resilient and very robust, we have a very good product, we have some very big events coming that will swell the numbers and a good start to the spring and hopefully we can improve on those numbers and I will ask the Minister for tourism to engage with you on the matter.