{"id":641523,"date":"2026-10-01T10:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/641523\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T10:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:32:16","slug":"slide-in-north-american-tourist-numbers-highlights-need-to-extend-tax-cuts-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/641523\/","title":{"rendered":"Slide in North American tourist numbers \u2018highlights need to extend tax cuts\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fall in the number of North American holidaymakers <\/a>visiting the Republic in August highlights the need to extend tax cuts to bolster Irish tourism\u2019s competitiveness, says a leading industry body.<\/p>\n

The call comes as more than 400 hospitality <\/a>business people gather in Dublin on Thursday for the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) annual conference.<\/p>\n

North American holidaymaker numbers <\/a>were down 3 per cent in August on the same month in 2025, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office, the confederation noted in advance of the conference.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Budget 2027: All you need to knowOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Spending by this group, a key market for Irish hospitality, fell in line with that rate by \u20ac9 million to \u20ac262 million in August, the data show.<\/p>\n

The slide in North American visitors <\/a>highlights the need to protect the Irish industry\u2019s competitiveness by extending the special 9 per cent VAT rate applied to restaurants and cafes to the broader industry, the confederation argues.<\/p>\n

The ITIC wants Minister for Finance Simon Harris to extend the VAT tax break to attractions, adventure tourism and campsites in Budget 2027<\/a>, which the Government will publish next week.<\/p>\n

North America is one of the country\u2019s most important tourism markets, so falls in visitor numbers and spending deserve attention, said ITIC chairwoman Anne O\u2019Donoghue in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overall picture is mixed, but businesses across the country are dealing with significant cost pressures,\u201d she added. \u201cThis is an important moment to discuss the policies and investment needed to keep Irish tourism competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

ITIC chief executive Eoghan O\u2019Mara Walsh cautioned that tourism was at a critical juncture.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemand is uneven across our key markets and operators are facing squeezed margins,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cBudget 2027 is an opportunity to support the attraction and tourism businesses that are central to the visitor experience, particularly in rural Ireland.\u201d <\/p>\n

ITIC believes that extending the VAT break would support businesses that draw tourists to towns and communities across the country.<\/p>\n

Research by economist Jim Power shows the extension would cost the Government \u20ac17 million. <\/p>\n

The Republic\u2019s standard rate of VAT is 23 per cent. Government introduced the special rate for food in Budget 2026 in response to lobbying from the hospitality industry, which argued that it was facing rising costs across the board.<\/p>\n

ITIC will announce a partnership with OpenAI to offer training in artificial intelligence to small businesses operating in the industry.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donoghue noted that AI <\/a>is changing how people plan and book travel, so businesses need to adapt to the new technology.<\/p>\n

Speakers at the conference include Minister for Tourism Peter Burke, US ambassador to Ireland Edward S Walsh and broadcaster Caitr\u00edona Perry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fall in the number of North American holidaymakers visiting the Republic in August highlights the need to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5168,72,61,60,61969,6306],"class_list":["post-641523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-budget","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-tourism-industry-confederation","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641523","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=641523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}