Many hotels accommodating Ukrainian refugees set to return to tourism from March

Minister for Tourism and Culture Catherine Martin has said a lot of hotels currently accommodating Ukrainian refugees have indicated they will return to the tourism market in March.

Ms Martin said hotels are currently deciding whether to renew State contracts to host refugees but said she did not have data on how many hotel beds would be unavailable for the 2023 tourism season.

“I don’t have an indication on the number of hotels yet because hotels are currently making up their decisions in relation to the contracts on whether they renew or not, so that that data is simply not there just yet,” Ms Martin told reporters in Dublin on Monday.

“But there are indications that a lot of those hotels, quite a number of them, will return to the tourism market.”

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The Minister said her department would continue to monitor the situation adding “it is being dealt with with the urgency it deserves”.

Ms Martin was speaking as Tourism Ireland launched details of its marketing strategy and plans to promote Ireland overseas in 2023.

She said her officials were in close contact with the Department of Children “looking with urgency” with the assistance of agencies, NGOs, local authorities on alternative accommodation stock for Ukrainian refugees.

Ms Martin said phase one of the modular homes plan would deliver 2,000 beds, while local authorities are hoping to deliver 1,000 beds through its vacant homes initiative while the Department of Housing was hoping to source another 3,000 beds through refurbishment grants.

“That looks like we could have 6,000 to 7,000 beds there in the coming months,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ms Martin also said she would be continuing to seek the retention of the 9 per cent hospitality VAT rate, which is due to expire at the end of next month.

“Minister Donohoe said at the time of the budget that it [the VAT rate] was due to revert back to the higher rate [13.5 per cent] at the end of February,” she said.

“I’ve always said that it should remain under review and we take stock of where the industry is and that’s something that the Government will look at and will assess, so no decision has been made on that yet.”

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said they were aware there was a lot of uncertainty due to “ever-changing and significant risks right now”, including the war in Ukraine and its implications on the cost of doing business.

“However, there is optimism for the long-term health of overseas tourism. Our job is to ensure that interest in Ireland, and the recovery in demand for holidays here, continues and that our industry returns to profitability,” he said.

“Above all, the need for Tourism Ireland to adopt a flexible and agile approach, taken over recent years, will continue in 2023 and beyond.”