Mr. Cian ? Lion?in:

Those issues have been prominent in the media in recent weeks. As we head into the peak tourism season and tourism’s recovery gathers pace, there is an inevitable pressure on hotel and car rental capacity.

That is a statement of the obvious. Hotels are also dealing with the same cost pressures being experienced by other businesses. Nevertheless, all businesses in what I like to call the wider tourism and hospitality ecosystem have to be mindful of the need for Ireland to maintain its value-for-money proposition and they need to take the medium and long-term perspective. There is a difference between pricing and value, but people need to think of the medium and long term rather than necessarily seeking to maximise profit.

I might outline a few facts and figures on the hotel sector. The Irish hotel sector is rebounding strongly. The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, ITIC, has conducted research on this and the occupancy rates for Dublin hotels in April was 83.6%, which is way ahead of comparable markets. In London, for instance, it is 72%, while in Rome and Amsterdam, it is 70%. There is a wider question regarding tourism accommodation in general, given this concerns not just hotels but all the other inputs, and there is a compression in the sector. There is pent-up demand as we have come into the summer, the night-time economy is being revived and more concerts are being held. Everything is feeding in to this.

As a Department, we will continue to engage with the sector to encourage businesses to take the long-term view of the value for money they offer and of their pricing in order that we will be able to maintain a long-term, sustainable tourism business. There is some positivity on the horizon. Upwards of 2,000 hotel rooms are in the pipeline for Dublin specifically. I do not have certainty as to whether they will come in this summer or later in the year but I think they will filter in over the year. That will help somewhat but it is a challenge.

Similarly, in regard to car rental, we will give these messages of restraint and long-term perspective. This is not specifically an area of responsibility for us but it does directly impact on the tourism sector. The Car Rental Council of Ireland is part of ITIC. As officials, we will sit down with ITIC and the Irish Hotels Federation to convey these messages, and we will also do that collaboratively with Fáilte Ireland.