Hoteliers seek 'urgent change' to tourism policy
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Irish hoteliers have called for an “urgent change in direction” from the next Government as it relates to the country’s tourism and hospitality sectors in order to put it on a “more stable footing”.
In its general election manifesto, the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) said action is needed to “stave off” the growing “commercial crisis within the sector”.
IHF President Michael Magner said that “tourism and hospitality should not be taken for granted” and “much more needs to be done to safeguard and prioritise our industry”.
The federation is calling for an urgent review of the Government’s approach to tourism policy following the general election as well as a significant increase in investment in tourism marketing.
Mr Magner said the key priority for the IHF is the need to tackle the cost of doing business which is “getting out of control and posing an enormous risk to the sector”.
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The IHF is also calling for the reduced Vat rate of 9% for food services to be reinstated — echoing calls from the Restaurants Association of Ireland — to help companies which are “struggling to deal with exceptionally high operating costs”.
In the budget last month, the Government declined to implement the rate cut but since the calling of the election various political parties have come out in favour of a reduction. The Department of Finance has said a Vat reduction from 13.5% to 9% for food services only would still cost €545m a year.
“There has been an alarming deterioration in the commercial model of hospitality food services in particular as a result of the increased Vat rate coupled with a raft of Government-imposed large cost increases. Businesses are now at a crossroads requiring immediate action by the next Government,” Mr Magner said.
The IHF said the next Government needs to do more to address excessive insurance costs and lack of competition in the insurance market.
“Upgrades to the national energy network infrastructure should be supported by central Government funding to reduce pass-through charges and help keep energy costs in line with our European competitors,” the IHF added.
On top of this, the IHF is seeking targeted measures such as local authority commercial rates waivers and PRSI rebates to “offset the impact of policies that place labour-intensive industries” as well as for tips and gratuities paid to employees to be tax exempt.
Among the other demands from the IHF include a call to remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport which limits the airport to managing 32 million passengers a year. Groups have previously said that this limit will hurt the tourism sector.
Last week, the High Court agreed to pause the effects of the cap for the summer period next year after a case was taken by Aer Lingus, Ryanair and a consortium of US airlines. The airlines claimed they will suffer significant harm from the seat cap.
The IHG said that the tourism and hospitality sectors support over 270,000 jobs across the country — including 65,000 people directly employed by hotels and guesthouses — with 70% of these jobs located outside of Dublin.