Tourism Minister Catherine Martin has said the hospitality industry has not flagged concerns with her regarding capacity in hotels to accommodate tourists visiting Ireland this summer.
The Irish Mirror is aware of two separate cases where brides-to-be have had their wedding guests’ accommodation cancelled at short notice.
Currently up to 5,000 hotels and B&Bs are supporting Ukrainian refugees across the country.
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Figures given to the Irish Mirror show around 13,150 beds in hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs are currently being used to accommodate refugees who have fled the war.
The Department of Children said additional capacity is also being pursued through hostels, commercial self-catering accommodation and accommodation pledged by the general public; religious properties; and local authority facilities.
When asked if she was concerned that tourism could take a hit again in Ireland this year due to hotels and B&Bs in use for accommodating refugees, Ms Martin said: “That has not been flagged to me during my engagement with the stakeholders.
“What was of major concern was the stability with VAT at 9% that’s what came up every time in my engagement with them.
“We have to be as we have been as a country, proud of our humanitarian response to the horrific conflict in Ukraine.
“The hotel accommodation is the immediate response. It can only ever be the immediate response.
“It’s not right to house those fleeing from Ukraine in a permanent way in hotels and I’ve always stated that.
“I think that the tourism industry looks set to reach maybe 70% of where it was pre-Covid..we have been steadfast in our commitment to the tourism industry due to the fact that it did produce €9 million to our economy, supporting one in 10 jobs, 260,000 jobs pre-Covid.”
Ms Martin said she can’t say with “any certainty” that up to 5,000 hotels and B&Bs will be gone from the stock available for tourism this summer.
She added: “I would hope that we'll be able to provide to all tourists that Ireland is open for business.”
Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s department which is overseeing the response to the humanitarian crisis said the department was not in a position to comment on how much the Government is paying hotels across the country to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.
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