Ireland ‘turning a corner’ on hotel room shortage, says tourist boss

Hospitality sector challenges a ‘concern’ for tourism sector

Alice Mansergh: 'A lot of the tour operators are still keen to figure out how they can secure a hotel space from us.'
Alice Mansergh: 'A lot of the tour operators are still keen to figure out how they can secure a hotel space from us.'

Ireland appears to be turning a corner on hotel room capacity, the chief executive of Tourism Ireland has said, but hospitality business closures are a concern for the tourism industry and its offering to foreign visitors.

Alice Mansergh, who heads the cross-Border body that markets the Republic and Northern Ireland to overseas visitors was speaking to The Irish Times from the World Travel Market conference in London on Tuesday.

One of the big talking points at this year’s event, which brings together tourism operators from across the world, is the issue of hotel capacity constraints in the Republic.

“A lot of the tour operators are still keen to figure out how they can secure a hotel space from us,” said Ms Mansergh. However, she said capacity is beginning to increase again with the number of rooms being used as emergency accommodation beginning to decline.

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“I think the good news here is that hotel capacity is beginning to expand again,” Ms Mansergh said. “I think we’ve turned a corner a little bit. As we know, 10 per cent of hotel rooms were out of use by tourism for humanitarian reasons. But that percentage is decreasing now all the time, and when you look at new hotels ... there’s about 2 per cent to 3 per cent more hotel rooms opening up across the island as a whole.”

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Asked about whether the rise in small business failures this year, particularly in the hospitality sector, is a concern for Ireland’s tourism offering in the long term, Ms Mansergh replied that SMEs are the “lifeblood” of tourism on the island.

She said she believes Tourism Ireland can play a role in helping struggling small businesses across the island. “Is it a concern? I would say, absolutely,” she said. “At Tourism Ireland, the way we try to help is by attracting visitors who are going to travel around the regions and are going to spend money.”

She said the tourism body is increasingly focused on “seasonal initiatives” like promoting Ireland as the home of Halloween. “So we have a lot under way to try and drum up and inspire demand, not just for the island overall, but for small businesses, for food experiences, for experiences out in nature.”

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Ian Curran

Ian Curran

Ian Curran is a Business reporter with The Irish Times