Hotels ‘face tougher competition’

TAX relief driven developments could increase room capacity in Irish hotels by 50% — 22,500 bedrooms — by July 2006, industry experts believe.

Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) president Dick Bourke said the State’s infrastructure is not capable of sustaining this type of investment in the short term and he forecasts an incredibly tough trading environment for hotels.

Mr Bourke said research indicates that planning permission exists or is being sought for an extra 270 hotels. Industry experts estimate that this could results in an close to 22,500 new hotel rooms which have to be completed by June/July of 2006 to avail of generous capital allowances. There are currently 45,000 hotel rooms in Ireland.