Mr. Eoghan O'Mara Walsh:

I do not have the data but I am aware that the lead-in time for bookings has shortened considerably. Traditionally, one would have got very many bookings from the US market in the first week or two of January, but that has changed. I do not know whether it is a Covid-related issue but the booking patterns have changed dramatically. Therefore, there is much less certainty about next year.

To go back to the point on what measures could be taken to keep price increases moderate, what Mr Kelly stated points to an approach, but the best way to moderate prices is competition. We will have a genuine problem next summer if the current number of beds, or indeed more, is contracted to the Government for humanitarian reasons. Demand and supply will be completely out of sync and approximately 30% of the bed stock will no longer be in the tourism economy. That will have a dramatically dangerous impact on the well-being of many downstream tourism businesses. In this regard, I believe Mr. Ó Lionáin mentioned the restaurants, bars, attractions, cultural events and culture companies. I mentioned this matter in my opening statement. In the Killarneys and Westports of this world, there will be no tourism activity if the bed stock is not available, and that will mean livelihoods lost next year. It is all interlinked. The best way to moderate price is competition. Much of the bed stock currently allocated to the Government needs to be brought back into the tourism economy. That is why we strongly urge the Government to come up with a much more balanced approach to housing refugees and asylum seekers.

When the crisis started, we all believed it would last for two to three months, but we now know it is a crisis of two to three years. We have estimated that if 30% of the bed stock is unavailable for tourism purposes next summer, it will cost the industry about €1 billion in lost earnings. If the crisis is to last for two to three years, one can imagine the really serious impact on industry – on the largest indigenous industry we have and the biggest regional employer.

Value is so important. Just before 2011, in the Celtic tiger times, we had lost our value proposition, and it took us an awfully long time to win it back. Therefore, value is important. The industry is very conscious of that. Thankfully, we have not been affected reputationally overseas so far, but there is a perception domestically that certain elements of the Irish tourism sector are not playing the value game. On the whole, however, we still represent value for money. I would have concerns about next summer because of escalating costs, VAT increases and such factors, but also because of the bed stock that will have been sucked out of the system. With all these, the knock-on effect on the wider tourism economy will be detrimental.