9% VAT rate important factor in growth of business for hotels and guesthouse – Fitzpatrick

Fine Gael TD for Louth, Peter Fitzpatrick, has said that growth in the hotel and guesthouses market in Louth comes as a result of hard work and local entrepreneurship, as well as some essential Government measures such as the reduction in the VAT rate and the abolition of the travel tax.

“The latest quarterly barometer from the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) shows that business is growing for hotels and guesthouse in Louth for the first six months of the year. This growth is a result of extremely hard work from local business people boosted by the reduction in the VAT rate and the abolition of the travel tax.

“Confidence levels among hotels and guesthouses in Louth strengthened during the first six months of 2015 according to IHF. The majority of this business is coming from domestic tourism.

“Domestic tourism is extremely important in supporting local hotels and guesthouse business. Louth is attracting more overseas visitors but the increase of overseas visitors in Louth is not as great as can be seen in other parts of the country. This is an area of potential growth.

“With visitor levels up, this is having a very positive impact on other local businesses and continued growth is expected as the majority of hotels and guesthouses plan to increase staffing levels further over the next twelve months.

“Tourism is one of Ireland’s largest industries supporting over 200,000 jobs. This sector has continued to grow and has been vital in rebuilding Ireland’s economy. The Government remains committed to growing the tourism sector further through the latest strategy, ‘People, Place and Policy – Growing Tourism to 2025’.

“Fáilte Ireland’s  research suggests that an initiative such as this has the potential to deliver an extra 600,000 overseas visitors (growth of more than 20%) and increase visitor revenue by almost 25% to €950m in total by 2020.”