Hotel occupancy rates across Midland spark jobs fears
The latest industry survey from the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) reveals a collapse in hotel bookings on foot additional Government restrictions due to Covid-19.
Hotel room occupancy rates across the Midlands are at 39% for September, 23% for October and 12% for November based on business currently booked.
Since the announcement on September 15 of revised Government plans for restrictions, the weekly rate of new bookings for hotels has plummeted by 67% across the country - representing an enormous blow to Irish tourism at a time when the sector is struggling under immense financial difficulties.
Meanwhile the results today from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the number of overseas visitors to Ireland for the month of August dropped by 84% year on year, demonstrating the severe challenges facing Irish tourism which would normally rely on overseas visitors for 70 percent of revenues.
It's estimated that there has been a €65m drop in tourism revenue for local economy this year.
Dara Cruise, Chair of the IHF Midlands Branch said it is now "make or break time".
"Urgent and unprecedented intervention from the Government is required to support tourism businesses and safeguard thousands of jobs throughout the sector. This must form a central plank of the Budget due to be announced next month," commented Mr Cruise.
Prior to Covid-19, Laois and Offaly’s tourism and hospitality industry supported 4,400 jobs and generated €66 million in revenues annually for the local economy.
"We are now facing a deepening crisis with 3,200 tourism jobs across Laois and Offaly at risk this year and local tourism revenues forecast to drop by €50m as businesses fight for survival.
“The outlook is exceptionally difficult and highlights the requirement for urgent immediate sectoral specific measures for tourism. This situation is nothing short of disastrous for our sector with serious implications for the tourism industry and wider economy. We are calling on the Government to implement sector specific measures as a matter of urgency. These should include enhanced employment subsidies, a reduction in tourism VAT, extended waiver of local authority rates and greater access to banking finance.”
The IHF are calling for urgent Government measures to safeguard Irish tourism through the continuation of Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) – if jobs are to be retained, the EWSS rates of support must be increased to the previous TWSS levels of €350/€410 per week for businesses that can demonstrate a 50% reduction in turnover for a 12-month period to 31 March 2021; a reduction in tourism VAT to 9%; liquidity measures to help fund hotels during the coming months as a result of the cash flow lost out due to Covid-19 restrictions, including extension of the moratorium on bank term loans from 6 months to 12 months; and for the local authority rates to be waived.