The chairman of the Donegal branch of the Irish Hotels Federation has said border counties are "now seeing the real consequences of Brexit", as it begins to have a detrimental impact on UK visitor numbers, claiming that many of them are now abandoning their plans to visit.
Paul Diver, who runs the 4-star Sandhouse Hotel & Marine Spa which overlooks Rossnowlagh beach, said that visitors to the Wild Atlantic Way are not going to the North West parts of it, commenting that "they are going between Cork and Galway, only a fraction are continuing up through Mayo, Sligo and Donegal", reports the Irish Independent.
Discussing the problems Brexit has caused for the Sandhouse Hotel, Diver said: "Our Northern Ireland business has evaporated. The weather hasn't helped recently but the fact is the Brexit vote has hit us hard. People were used to getting €1.35 for the pound and now they are barely getting €1.12 or €1.11. Our Republic of Ireland visitors are filling the void for now, particularly visitors from Dublin. Without them, the season would have been pretty bad for everyone."
Diver added that he feels Tourism Ireland need to do a better job at marketing the West and North West parts of the Wild Atlantic Way to foreign tourists, which will help replace the lost business.
