Pubs in traditional tourist areas will create an additional 5,000 seasonal jobs this summer, according to the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI).
New research unveiled at the 43rd VFI AGM taking place in Wexford Town today has revealed that a total of seasonal 17,000 jobs are set to be created during the busy summer period, compared to the the usual 12,000 positions.
The increase, states the VFI, is attributed to the expected significant rise in overseas and domestic tourism numbers this summer, with CSO figures outlining a 16% increase in visitor numbers for the first three months of 2016.
Newly appointed President of the VFI, Pat Crotty, commented: "The creation of these additional seasonal jobs is tremendous news for our economy and is clear evidence that the tourism industry is thriving. The demand for additional seasonal staff to accommodate rising tourism numbers only highlights how popular the pub is amongst visitors to Ireland."
Meanwhile, the 400 publicans attending the VFI AGM today called on the new Government to focus on reducing current levels of excise, in order to make Ireland more competitive with European countries in the tourism market.
Pat Crotty went on to add: "While tourism is on the up there are many external and some internal issues that could dampen the growth. We must try to control the controllables and the high level of excise is one of the main ones. Ireland already has one of the highest levels of excise in the EU and we need to make the country less expensive for tourists. It is important to point out that it is not just our ranking in the European excise table that counts – it is how far we are ahead of others that is the real problem. For example - The excise on beer is 10 times in Ireland what it is in Spain or Portugal."
