According to The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF), the latest figures for the Irish hotel and guesthouse sector indicate that the average hotel occupancy level in Ireland decreased by 48% year-on-year in July from 90% to 42%.
The IHF also stated that Ireland's average hotel occupancy level has reached 49% in August, and Irish hotels are reporting average occupancy levels of 23% for September and 17% for October, based on current bookings.
Call For More Government Supports
IHF president Elaina Fitzgerald Kane commented, "Tourism created some 90,000 new jobs following the financial crisis, demonstrating our industry's ability to rebound given the right supports.
"As the government has acknowledged, businesses require greater certainty so they can plan forward. The supports announced so far, including those contained in the July stimulus, are all welcome, but they only offer short-term fixes and particularly against the backdrop of ongoing public health restrictions. What is necessary is an active, intensive and sustained public policy support framework to steer the tourism and hospitality industry through the crisis. This is justified by the scale of the national and regional economic output and employment at stake."
Fitzgerald Kane added that additional interventions are necessary in the form of sector specific measures, saying, "We learned from the financial crisis that speed is of the essence. If implemented, these measures will go a long way to ensure the survival and long-term stability of many tourism businesses and safeguard their important contribution to their local economies. Hotels and guesthouses are a key component of tourism. In addition to providing local employment opportunities, they buy local services, source locally-produced food and provide a vital infrastructure in support of local business and communities. Failure to support the tourism sector could have far reaching implications."
© 2020 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
