Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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29. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on whether tourism is being curtailed by the lack of hotel rooms in Dublin; and the way in which future capacity is being managed in view of the housing emergency. [37796/18]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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2017 was a record year for Irish tourism.  To date, CSO overseas tourism figures for 2018 confirm a very strong performance overall by Irish tourism, with key main markets continuing to show significant growth.  These figures suggest that we are on target for a record high performance for the year as a whole.

Fáilte Ireland monitors the performance of tourist accommodation through regular occupancy surveys.  This analysis indicates that while the country as a whole has sufficient stock of tourist accommodation, there are capacity constraints in areas of high tourist traffic at times of peak demand and additional capacity is required in certain parts of the country, particularly Dublin city.

In this context, Fáilte Ireland commissions periodic assessments of hotel accommodation in Dublin, most recently August 2018.  Although the latest results confirm the current shortage, they expect that approximately 5,400 hotel rooms will come on stream in the coming years, including over 3,000 already under construction.  Present projections are that this activity will still be outpaced by growing demand but this is a dynamic situation and additional room stock may be developed in response to this demand. 

Housing policy is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, but with specific regard to factors within my Department's and Fáilte Ireland's remit, revised hotel Regulations were introduced in 2016.  These regulations were in response to consumer preferences and in order to boost the economic rationale for investment in hotel development.  The changes set out in these Regulations, in particular in regard to minimum room size have made investment even more attractive by allowing hotel operators provide more rooms and operate at a lower cost base, thereby improving hotel capacity, competitiveness and profitability.  Consumers also benefit in terms of increased room capacity, competition and range of accommodation.