Joe Dolan says €300m tourism spend ‘needed’

Incoming IHF president, Joe Dolan, has warned that much of the sector’s recovery is based on external factors over which it has no control and called for greater tourism investment to ensure sustainable growth throughout the industry.

Mr Dolan, managing director of the Bush Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, recommended the introduction of a €300m capital budget for tourism initiatives — part of which should be used to stimulate regional growth.

“The recovery is non-uniform; it’s non-uniform where it’s happening and the rate at which it’s happening but there is recovery nonetheless.

"Let’s just be first aware that the recovery that is happening is to a point largely due to external factors over which we have no control like currency [movements] and air tax ... but we need to control our own destiny,” Mr Dolan said.

He would like to see more investment in tourism regionally.

His warning that the sector’s recovery was not being felt across the country was echoed by Crowe Horwath’s Aiden Murphy who said the gap in profitability between hotels in Dublin and those in the west will widen unless supply issues in the capital are addressed.