Hotel closures create bed shortage in city

THE closure of three Limerick hotels has caused a bed shortage in the city.

The Strand (formerly Jury’s), The George and Hanrattys hotels have closed in recent months.

The shortage has yielded a big bonus with all the open hotels reporting very high occupancy rates.

And often the “No Vacancies” signs are up.

Hoteliers in the city say the increase in visitor numbers is primarily due to the low-cost flights operating at Shannon by Ryanair.

Shannon Development’s tourism director, John King, said the number of passengers using the airport since the start of the Ryanair flights have increased by almost 50%.

Limerick hoteliers say they have had between 70% and 90% bed occupancy since the Ryanair flights started. Clarion Hotel general manager Sean Lally said they had to turn 30 apartments into 63 bedrooms for more space.

There has also been an increase in the number of visitors to attractions such as King John’s Castle.

So far this year, 133,000 passengers have used Shannon Airport compared to 64,000 in 2004.