Galway hotels enjoy surge in Races bookings

Hoteliers in Galway are enjoying a significant boost in bookings ahead of this year’s Galway Races.

Paul Gill, Vice-President of the Irish Hotels Federation, and who has just staged a management buy-out of the Claregalway Hotel, said there has been a notable increase in activity.

“Hoteliers are looking forward to this year’s Galway Races and are seeing a significant pick-up in business and advance bookings compared with last year.

“There’s great value across Galway this year with most hotels in the city offering very attractive packages to draw in the punters – including bed and breakfast, complimentary transfers to the racecourse and live entertainment and tickets to the Races each day,” said Mr Gill. 

He said the key challenge facing Galway hoteliers in the long-term is to offer new attractions.

“When people think of holidaying in Galway, the image should be of a fun and vibrant destination – blessed with a wealth of scenic attractions, steeped in history and culture and offering a warm and friendly welcome.

“The key challenge lies in getting our marketing message right and giving holidaymakers new and compelling reasons to visit Ireland,” said Mr Gill.

He added that there is increased optimism among local tourism businesses on foot of growing overseas visitor numbers and increased support from the Government.

Figures produced by the Central Statistics Office last week showed an 8.1% increase in overseas visitors between March and May this year with North America (up 12.6%), Europe (up 9.6%) and Britain (up 5.6%) doing particularly well.

“A significant factor driving this is the competitive advantage the reduced tourism VAT rate of 9% has provided Irish tourism when marketing Ireland abroad as a destination for holidaymakers and business travelers,” said Mr Gill.

For more on this story, see the current edition of the Galway City Tribune