HOTELIERS say the appointment of Kerry TD Brendan Griffin as Minister of State for Tourism and Sport comes at a pivotal time for the tourism sector.
They say the strong recovery in Irish tourism has been supported by a range of targeted government measures that have been enormously positive for the industry but recent CSO figures have shown that Brexit is beginning to bite, with a 6.5% fall in visitors from Britain in the first three months of the year.
A statement from the Irish Hotels’ Federation said in the last six years the sector has created over 50,000 jobs with the tourism industry and is now supporting approximately 230,000 jobs.
“We look forward to working closely with Minister Griffin to build on that progress and to facing the very real challenge that Brexit is posing to our industry,” the IHF said.
Continued growth is achievable but that requires specific actions, including a significant increase in marketing support and targeted assistance for those regions which have high dependency on the UK market.
“There are aspects of the economic consequences of Brexit which are largely outside our control so it is imperative that we plan and mitigate the risks and potential damage where we do have some control over our destiny,” the hoteliers added.
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