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Editor’s
VIEW T
he latest CSO quarterly figures show that tourism employment has increased further, making the industry Ireland’s largest business employer. The sector now accounts for one in nine jobs nationally. Recent tourism jobs include the opening of two flagship visitor attractions in Dublin - GPO’s Witness History and Epic Ireland. However, while tourism is performing strongly, decisions taken in Budget 2017 will be critical to the sector’s continued strong performance, especially in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum in the UK. In its pre-Budget submission, the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation has called on government to retain competitiveness and restore investment in the tourism sector. “17 of the 19 Eurozone countries have tourism VAT rates of 10% or lower,” says ITIC Chief Executive Eoghan O’Mara Walsh. “The current tourism VAT rate is therefore right-sized for Ireland and it is very important that it is retained in Budget 2017.” The tourism industry was worth 7.3bn to the Irish economy last year, over eight million international tourists visited Ireland in 2015, and the sector paid 1.8bn to the exchequer in taxes. 2016 has continued to perform strongly, with 13% growth in overseas visitors for the first six months. Employment in tourism is set to continue in the coming years with additional planned hotel construction and the likes of Centre Parcs opening a new forest attraction in Longford. Over the next 10 years ITIC estimates that Irish tourism can create an additional 50,000 jobs but that will only happen if the industry remains competitive and the correct government policies and investment strategies are pursued. As we have stated on these pages many times, tourism capital investment by the State is very low and not appropriate for a sector that is so important to the economy. Tourism marketing budgets have been cut year after year and are now 20m below what they used to be. This is having a serious impact on advertising recall and will mean less visitor numbers in future years if it isn’t addressed as a matter of urgency. We can only hope that the government decides to do the right thing on October 11th.
Editor: Maev Martin Email: maev.martin@ ashvillemediagroup.com Telephone: 01 432 2271
Maev Martin www.hotelandcateringreview.ie @HC_Review
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27TH SEPTEMBER 2016
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HOTEL
CATERING REVIEW | AUGUST 2016
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