Hotelier: 5,000 jobs in tourism are at risk

UP TO 5,000 jobs will be lost in the hotels sector unless the incoming Government takes urgent action to halt the visitor slump, a leading hotelier has warned.

Michael Vaughan, chairman of the Shannon region branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, also said that 15,000 of the current stock of 60,000 rooms will go.

However, he said if the industry recovers to 2008 levels, the shutdown of rooms could be reduced to 7,500.