Galway hoteliers welcome rise in overseas market

Galway hoteliers have welcomed the continuing growth in visitors to Ireland after the latest CSO figures showed an eleven per cent increase in trips to the country by overseas visitors between May and July of this year.

Irish Hotels Federation Galway branch chairman Shay Livingstone said that the growth in visitors delivered a major boost to Irish tourism, building on last year’s performance.

He predicted that total overseas visitors to Ireland were now expected to reach 7.8 million this year – up from 7.3 million in 2014.

“There has been a real sense of optimism in Galway this summer season, as we have seen more visitors on the ground – all welcome news for hotels and guesthouses,” says Mr Livingstone.

“It is particularly encouraging to see strong recovery continuing from Britain, which is up over 12% for the first half of this year. The Galway tourism industry is also benefiting from visitor increases from North America (14.9%) and the rest of Europe (12.7%) – which are key overseas markets,” he added.

The Connaught Hotel General Manager stated that the tourism industry continues to provide economic growth and employment opportunities in Galway thanks to a number of direct actions from the Government, including the zero rate travel tax and the 9% tourism VAT rate.

“The 9% VAT rate in particular has been of major significance to the industry. This has brought our VAT rate into line with other European destinations and helped businesses compete fairly for visitors.

“This has led to increased visitor numbers and also allowed the sector to create much sought after jobs in Galway and to reinvest through restoring and upgrading properties, which ensures quality and high standards are maintained,” he concluded.