Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the extent to which hotel bed accommodation fluctuated in each of the past five years to date; the degree to which future requirements are likely to be met in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15547/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Comprehensive data on hotel accommodation capacity and occupancy are contained in the Tourism Facts bulletins for the relevant years which are available in the Research section of the Fáilte Ireland website, . The bulletin for 2012 is not yet available but at March 2012 there were 856 hotels registered in Ireland with a total of 57,859 rooms and 135,011 beds. Fáilte Ireland's accommodation occupancy statistics for the period January to September 2012, also available on the website, show hotel occupancy rates of 64%, an increase of 5% on the same period in 2011. Hotel room capacity fell by 3% between 2011 and 2012.

These statistics indicate that we have a sufficient stock of hotel rooms for the coming years and indeed Fáilte Ireland had previously estimated that there will be an overcapacity of approximately 7,000 rooms in 2015, based on overseas visitor numbers returning to 2008 levels.