The head of the local branch of the hotelier’s association has said a series of increased operating costs must be tackled by Government to save jobs in the industry.<\/p>\n
Carolynne Murray, Chair of the Donegal Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, was speaking after meeting a number of Donegal TDs and Senators.<\/p>\n
Ms Murray, the CEO of the Shandon Hotel at Marble Hill, Dunfanaghy, led a delegation of hoteliers from across Donegal.<\/p>\n
The meeting was held to discuss the key challenges facing Irish tourism and the measures required to ensure the successful long-term development of Ireland\u2019s largest indigenous industry.<\/p>\n
The industry supports over 270,000 livelihoods \u2013 including 8,000 in Donegal.<\/p>\n
A key concern for hotels and guesthouses across Donegal in the run up to Budget 2027 is the exceptionally high operating costs that tourism and hospitality businesses are grappling with, putting Ireland’s competitiveness as a tourism destination at risk.<\/p>\n
This is being driven to a large extent by successive public policies which have significantly increased operating costs, claim hotel industry representatives.<\/p>\n
Ms Murray said \u201cTourism and hospitality businesses are struggling to deal with unsustainable operating costs that are putting enormous pressure on margins.<\/p>\n
“This is a serious challenge for our sector, including the local tourism economy here in Donegal.<\/p>\n
“It is essential that Budget 2027 delivers targeted measures as part of efforts to offset some of these Government-controlled costs and enhance the cost competitiveness and viability of our sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outlining the key policy priorities for the industry, Ms Murray stressed the importance of decisive action in the upcoming Budget:<\/p>\n
Key policy priorities for Budget 2027<\/p>\n
A meaningful reduction in Employers\u2019 PRSI for labour-intensive hospitality businesses
\nMeasures to tackle excessive business costs, including energy network charges
\nSupport for the development of hotel staff accommodation
\nEnhanced resources for hotel sustainability initiatives
\nIncreased funding for F\u00e1ilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland to deliver tourism growth
\nAdditional investment in training and skills, leveraging untapped surpluses in the National Training Fund
\nMeasures to support increased hotel capacity<\/p>\n
She added that by having these measures in place would go a long way towards ensuring the long-term success of Ireland\u2019s tourism and hospitality industry, including local businesses throughout Donegal.<\/p>\n
Tourism at a Glance<\/p>\n
As Ireland\u2019s largest indigenous employer, a vibrant and thriving tourism and hospitality industry is vital for the country\u2019s economic well-being:<\/p>\n
270,000 livelihoods\u00a0supported by Irish tourism & hospitality
\n8,000 tourism jobs\u00a0throughout Donegal
\n69,000 people\u00a0directly employed by Irish hotels & guesthouses
\nRegional employment\u00a0\u2013 some 70% of tourism & hospitality jobs are outside of Dublin
\n\u20ac10bn in revenue\u00a0generated by tourism annually for the economy
\nOver \u20ac2.9bn in taxes\u00a0generated annually for the State by tourism-related activity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of the local branch of the hotelier’s association has said a series of increased operating costs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-542656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}