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HOTELIERS ARE REPORTING a disappointing start to the summer season.
The latest Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) quarterly barometer shows that hotels and guesthouses in regional tourism areas are seeing a disappointing start to the season, with increased business in urban areas “masking poorer performance across the rest of the country”.
National
On a national basis, 55 per cent of hoteliers are seeing some increase in business compared with this time last year. Dublin, Cork and Galway are all seeing increased activity around business and event tourism.
But outside the main urban areas, the anticipated upturn in tourism has failed to materialise, the IHF said. It reports that occupancy levels are lagging in many seasonal hotels and resorts, particularly along the west coast.
When asked about the outlook for their business over the next twelve months, 50 per cent of hoteliers said they are optimistic, compared to 64 per cent of them saying this last summer.
Survey
The Government’s decision to keep the 9 per cent tourism VAT rate “is providing a vital lifeline for many businesses in the sector” said the IHF.
Nine out of ten (93 per cent) hoteliers say the measure will continue to have a positive impact on business into 2013 . Meanwhile, 50 per cent say they are likely to take on additional staff over the next year as a direct result of it.
Tim Fenn, Chief Executive of the IHF, said that, despite an actual decline in visitor numbers for the first five months of the year, hoteliers had been optimistic for an upturn in business this summer but this has not materialised outside the large cities.
Performance has been patchy at best and we’re now expecting business levels to be flat in many parts of the country which is severely disappointing given the very low visitor base we’re working off at 30 per cent less than the peak in 2007.
He added that half of the measure is “getting our marketing message right and giving holidaymakers new reasons to visit Ireland”.
Visitors
Where have visitors from overseas been coming from? The IHF says of the respondents:
Rates
Hotels and guesthouse owners identified local authority rates as the most pressing issue affecting their business, followed by utility costs (electricity and gas), wage costs, excess capacity, weakened consumer confidence and limited availability of credit.
One hundred per cent of hoteliers said that the proposed statutory sick-pay scheme would increase the cost of doing business while 91 per cent said it would negatively impact on levels of employment in their business.
Meanwhile, 90 per cent said it would result in “greater levels of abuse of sick leave” by employees.
The Government proposals to reintroduce the Joint Labour Committee system would hinder hoteliers’ ability to take on new staff, 88 per cent said.
When it comes to banking, 39 per cent said they experienced difficulties accessing normal credit facilities from their banks during the last year.
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Well done President Trump and President Putin.
@Steve Miller: and president Assad.
@Steve Miller: I’ll second that one!, well done President Trump!…
When will the refugees start going home?
@Steve Miller: 500k have already returned so far this year as the Syrian govt brings more areas under its control.
@Andy Brown: “440,000 internally displaced Syrians and about 31,000 of those who fled abroad have now come back”
Well done to Russia and Trump for putting an end to this war.
@Irreverent Reverend: Unbelievably premature statement. Ceasefires are notorious for breaking down in this region and in this war, it’s absolute madness to say that the war is over.
@Malachi:
Cutting off funding, weapon supplies and supply routes should help.
This conflict has gone on for too long.
@George Vladisavljevic: Where did you see anything about funding being cut?
The US and Russia have struck a tentative deal that seems to be holding, for now, in Southwest Syria. I don’t see anything that suggests the respective countries have abandoned their preferred factions in the region.
Even if they did do such a thing, there are far too many countries involved in this war for a US-Russia agreement to halt funding to any one side. Think of Turkey, Iran, etc. with interests they want to pursue in the region. This kind of thing has happened before and has broken down before.
I agree that it has gone on too long, but that’s hardly a controversial point.
@Malachi:
I believe that if the Russians and the Americans want a ceasefire to hold it will hold atleast for the groups that they back.
ISIS is a different matter, but if they both put pressure on them and their backers, the conflict could be ended relatively soon.
@George Vladisavljevic: As I said, there are more forces at work than just the Russians and Americans. We’ll see how it pans out – but you have to admit that proclaiming the war is over (after what is it, three major failed ceasefires already?) is premature to the extreme.
Not too concerned about the fight against ISIS, that’ll be done relatively soon. It’s the major divisions that still exist in Syria that are going to keep the conflict going between the opposition and Assad.
@Malachi:
I agree with you about other forces being involved and it would be nice to see the US and the Russians in working together to end the conflict. If they did, others such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran and others would not have much choice but to stay out, that is if the US and Russia worked together in really wanting to stop the confkict.
US seems to be excepting that Assad will stay in power at least in some parts of Syria…..Departure from the insane Obama policy of regime change with millitary supplies to the so called moderate Sunni rebels…..With IS close to final defeat hopeful signs of end of 6 year Syrian war….
Good news. I can’t see the so called Caliphate playing any part in this though. Not a huge fan of the Russians or Americans but common sense prevailed here, the enemy is ISIS and groups mimicking them.
Only skimmed it but didn’t see a mention of Trump or Putin. AFP are more butthurt than redditors at this point it seems.
This is the action of a New World Order I can get behind!
They might as well there’s nothing left to fight for the whole country’s nearly destroyed.
@Dave Hogan: it’s strategic value will never be destroyed.
@Dave Hogan: that’s not even close to being true. Stop spouting rubbish you clearly don’t know anything about
Trump and Putin got it done. I don’t care who is responsible as long as it can hold off some suffering. Credit where credit is due. Hopefully it can be built upon.
Fake news. Assad warplanes still dropping bombs this morning
@Mr Scientist: The ceasefire covers the Southwest, and so far even rebel sources have said that it is holding. Don’t know where you saw that about Assad warplanes, do you have a link?
@Malachi: @worldonalert twitter. Videos of regine warplanes dropping bombs this morning in Ein Tarma.
@Mr Scientist: You lazy b0l0x. I couldn’t find any link that was less than 3 days old. I’ll have to discount your “facts” until you can provide evidence.
@Virtual Architect: are you incapable of scrolling through a timeline on Twitter. Several put up there today ya sap
@Mr Scientist: I saw a plume of smoke over a city allegedly recorded today, that’s about it. Not terribly convincing I must say. What videos did you see?
Also, why are the rebels not claiming that Assad has violated the ceasefire already? They immediately did so last time he did, in January. If the rebels are not saying Assad’s warplanes violated ceasefire, I’d be very skeptical he did.
@Malachi: what evidence are you basing on the ceasefire is holding? I’m following multiple accounts on Twitter with the people operating within syria saying the ceasefire talk is a joke. Rebels also not following it.
@Mr Scientist: http://www.euronews.com/2017/07/09/us-russian-ceasefire-deal-holding-in-southwest-syria
“A UK-based Syrian observer and several rebel groups in the area said calm was prevailing [...] witnesses reported no warplanes or significant fighting.”
I remember it being all over the media when Assad violated in in January, as I said. No such reports this time, and SOHR would definitely be all over it.
@Malachi: UK based syrian observer is a middle aged man sat in Coventry, I’d take that with a pinch of salt. Reason why violations were reported last time because US were not involved. Suddenly now there the ones to broker it with Russia and all western media outlets say it’s holding. Gimme a break..
@Mr Scientist: I don’t particularly trust SOHR, my point was that he’s pro-rebel and would definitely report on a ceasefire violation if it was all over twitter as you suggest.
US backed forces were involved when there was a major ceasefire attempt at the tail end of 2016. The ceasefire wasn’t brokered by the US that time, sure, but do you really think this is just completely flying under the radar of even pro-rebel sources like SOHR and rebel leadership, who haven’t said a peep?
I did see reports from a few journalists that there were skirmishes and bombings in the “de-escalation zones” set up by the Russians/Turks a while back, but that was before this ceasefire came into effect. No claims of violations within that period have been convincing.
have your say