A new survey conducted by the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) indicates that national average hotel room occupancy declined by almost 50% year-on-year in July.
According to the survey's findings, national average hotel room occupancy was 42% in July of 2020. The figure recorded for the same month last year was over 90%.
This is the largest year-on-year decrease in Irish hotel occupancy ever recorded for the summer season.
The IHF said that bookings for August are currently broadly in line with July, while occupancy is 24% nationally for September at present.
The figures are based the responses of the 305 hotels that participated in the survey.
"Nothing Short Of Disastrous"
IHF president Elaina Fitzgerald Jane stated, "Even in a best-case scenario, we are effectively looking at occupancy levels of less than 30% for the year as a whole. This is nothing short of disastrous for our sector with serious implications for the tourism industry and wider economy."
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