Housing refugees costing allied tourism industry €1.1bn

The reliance by the Government on tourism beds to house refugees and asylum seekers could cost the tourism economy

€1.1bn this year.

| By Sean Moriarty

Paul Kelly, Chief Executive Fáilte Ireland was speaking to a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media just before the Easter Break when he made the claims. The Fáilte Ireland official told the meeting that 32% of all registered tourism bed stock outside Dublin is now contracted to the State and is not available to tourists. This will have a negative effect on downstream activity providers, visitor attractions and many in impacted areas will have their business survival put at significant risk, according to Mr Kelly. “We estimate that this will cost the non-accommodation tourism sectors over €1.1billion in lost revenues this year. This will be a real loss as we know from inbound agents that many visitors who want to come to Ireland are now booking other countries simply because they cannot find accommodation in Ireland,” he told the meeting. The news comes as the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) confirmed that one of three hotels in the Killarney area previously used to home International Protection Applicants has resumed trading as a tourist business. Hotel Killarney is one of four premises nationwide that has returned to its traditional business model – the other three are in Dublin - the DCEDIY confirmed to the Killarney Advertiser. There are two other unnamed hotels in Killarney providing accommodation for applicants of International Protection, they added.

CONCERNS: There are concerns that the lack of bad space could have a negative impact on allied tourism trades like gift shops, tour operators and attractions.