A WARNING has been issued that the proposed increase in local authority rates in Killarney will affect business growth and could cost jobs in tourism.
Hoteliers in the town have stressed that tourism is one of the few sectors that has been creating employment over the last two years and that many hotels simply could not sustain a rates hike.
They pay rates, water and sewerage bills of between €50,000 and €350,000 per annum, despite the fact that the hotel sector is still recovering from massive losses incurred during the recession.
Chairman of the Kerry branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, Sean O’Driscoll, said the last thing the industry needs, as it is getting back on its feet, is more local taxes.
He said that he hoped the newly elected councillors will genuinely focus on improving economic activity and job creation in the county and avoid increasing business costs.
Mr O’Driscoll, general manager at the five-star Muckross Park Hotel, urged the incoming local authority members to immediately review operating procedures to ensure that tourism support services are at the centre of policy decisions.
Assurance
The IHF head slammed the decision to remove services from Killarney but he welcomed an assurance given by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore to the Killarney Local Government Action Group that it was never the government’s intention to centralise all key local authority services.
He also expressed relief that Mr Gilmore insisted there was no reason why the title of mayor should be abolished in Killarney.
“In a county where we rely so much on international tourism for our economic growth, we need to have a mayor. For international visitors to be welcomed to a town by a mayor is hugely important,” Mr O’Driscoll said.
In his capacity as chair of the marketing sub-committee of the County Tourism Forum, Mr O’Driscoll said Brand Kerry is lagging significantly behind its competitors in terms of international sales activity and when individual hotels attend international trade shows, other areas are extensively promoted but Kerry is “nowhere to be seen”.
He called for the newly elected local authority to ring fence a fund for tourism marketing as the county’s economy would reap huge benefits from investing in such a strategy.
