Ireland's tourism sector could contract next year

Sector will not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2026

Killarney, one of Ireland's biggest tourism towns, has seen significant numbers of hotel beds utilised for Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers. File picture: Larry Cummins

Ireland's tourism sector could contract next year and is unlikely to recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2026 at the earliest, the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) said.

The representative body blamed soaring inflation, the energy crisis, and the shortage of hotel beds due to Government contracts to house Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers.