Business
Pubs are vital for Galway tourism
The scale of Galway’s hospitality sector as part of the tourism infrastructure is underlined in a new report which reveals that the city and county boasts 504 pubs, 64 hotel bars and 141 fully licenced and wine licenced restaurants in the country.
The report by economist Tony Foley – entitled the Contribution of the Drinks Industry to Tourism, and commissioned for the Support Your Local campaign – found that Galway had 1,028,000 overseas tourists in 2013, spending €308 million, highlighting the importance of the overseas tourism industry for revenues in the country.
The report showed that overseas visitors to Ireland spend 21% of their holiday expenditure on food and drink, with 26% of overseas visitors using pubs in Galway and Mayo for meals.
The Support Your Local campaign is calling for excise tax on alcohol to be cut, stating that these taxes are damaging our competitiveness and costing jobs.
The new report was launched this week at a roundtable discussion featuring some of Ireland’s top tourist stakeholders ‘Opening Ours: Evolving Ireland’s Drinks and Hospitality Industry to improve our Tourist Offer’ in the Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin.
At the discussion, Irish Whiskey tourism, the Wild Atlantic Way and the role of the pub were among the topics discussed. Mr Foley said that Ireland world renowned pubs are one of our top tourist draws, with many offering food and entertainment specifically for tourists.
“The regional spread of the hospitality sector, with 7457 pubs across the country, also supports the geographic spread of tourism,” he said.
The report notes that the drinks industry has the potential to make a strong contribution to the success of the Wild Atlantic Way project.
“The drinks industry is also responsible for the direct provision of major visitor attractions like the Guinness Storehouse, Ireland’s No.1 Visitor attraction, which attracted 1,269,371 visitors in 2014, IDL’s Old Jameson Distillery and Jameson Experience Midleton, which attracted 410,000 visitors between them, and newer developments like the Killlbeggan Distillery and Tullamore Dew Visitor Centre offering new attractions outside Dublin,” he said.
The new President of Local Ireland, the association representing local news publishers around the country, is Head of Irish Times Regionals Dan Linehan.
Mr Linehan takes over the presidency from Declan McGuire of the Connacht Tribune. His appointment was confirmed at the recent Annual General Meeting of Local Ireland at Bloomfield House Hotel near Mullingar, Westmeath.
Mr Linehan, who has served as Vice President of the organisation for the last two years, said: “The coming years are a very important time for local publishers with many important issues to be addressed, including the implementation of the Future of Media Commission recommendations, defamation reform, the role and support for local publishers in public service reporting and helping publishers develop commercial digital offerings.”
Speaking at the AGM, Mr McGuire acknowledged the work done by the Executive in the past two years under the direction of Executive Director, Bob Hughes, on several projects related to the publishing industry but most especially the successful conclusion of the long-running campaign for the abolition of VAT on newspapers.
He also wished Mr Linehan the very best in his new role as President of the association for the next two years.
Mr Hughes thanked Mr McGuire for his leadership and support during his term of office and said he looked forward to working with Mr Linehan on the key policy priorities for the association, including Government supports, Government advertising, fair remuneration for content from the tech platforms and the reform of the legislation for defamation.
Local Ireland members also elected Seán Mahon, Managing Director of the Southern Star, as Vice President for the next two years.
The shortage of affordable housing is the single biggest impediment in attracting and retaining workers in the West, according to business group Ibec.
At a ‘Regional Insights Series’ meeting in the Galmont Hotel in Galway last week, employers were told that capacity constraints and labour supply are the key challenges facing business growth in the region.
Ibec Head of Regional Policy Helen Leahy said: “There must be greater focus by government on enhancing quality of life issues such as housing and infrastructure which are driving labour shortages in the region.
“Ibec’s vision for the West is to realise its potential to become a globally competitive location. An inadequate supply of affordable housing is now the single largest impediment to attracting and retaining talented workers, without whom business investment and expansions are not possible.
“Labour shortages are a real concern for businesses in the region. People decide where to live and work based on quality of life and access to high quality services and amenities. Industry tends to follow talent, and in this regard, the region needs to have all the building blocks in place as the attraction and retention of world-class talent becomes increasingly competitive on a global level,” said Ms Leahy.
Amongst Ibec’s priorities for the West are:
- Addressing housing and infrastructure challenges
- Transitioning towards a new growth model with Net Zero energy powered by Atlantic offshore wind resources
- Adapting businesses to the new economic realities
- Enhancing capacity and skillsets to achieve sustainable development objectives
- Investment in people and skills
- Creating competitive advantage through digitalisation
- Innovation as a key driver of productivity growth
One in five Galway businesses want to go fully cashless, as the move towards card payments and tapping continues unabated post-Covid.
In all, 22% of Galway businesses would like to be fully cashless, according to a survey carried out by BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA), a provider of payment technology solutions, which asked Irish businesses about the current payment landscape as well as business confidence and concerns.
Over one-third (36%) of Galway businesses were unaware there is no contactless limit on mobile wallets – just below the national average – while 54% believe the increase in card over cash transactions has helped them run their business.
Six out of ten Galway businesses expect to grow this year despite the cost-of-living crisis and running costs dominating as key concerns; 62% believe their business will grow over the next twelve months despite global economic uncertainty.
Unsurprisingly cost-of-living increases and running costs were the main concerns the majority of businesses had.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
