Yet another report has confirmed that the hospitality sector is in crisis, yet the Government does nothing to help according to Labour Party spokesperson on Tourism, Culture and Sport Mary Upton TD

“We have known for almost 2 years that the industry was facing into serious difficulties. This stems principally from the massive tax breaks granted for hotel development. These tax breaks have resulted in €444m in tax foregone up as far as 2008. But they have also resulted in a huge oversupply of hotels as they were built not after identifying market demand but in order to avail of the tax breaks. This is proven by the fact that it is the ‘luxury spa and golf course’ hotels that are suffering whilst those in Dublin have held up the strongest.

“We need action from the Government. I have been calling on the Minister and her predecessor for months to address the issue of ‘Zombie Hotels’ and the role of NAMA in the hotel industry. After just the first tranche of loans were transferred to NAMA it had taken effective control of 17 hotels. The Labour Party has put forward a strategy in our tourism policy, Extending the Welcome, which would look to address this issue by way of consultation with industry stakeholders and cross departmental engagement on this issue. It is incumbent on the Government to address this issue before the ‘Zombie Hotels’ do irreparable damage to smaller family run operations and to the B&B sector.

“As well as tackling the issue of oversupply, we must address the issue of demand. We need to tempt as many foreign tourists to Ireland as possible. Yet overseas Tourism Figures continue to collapse on the 2009, which was itself a calamitous year. We should be targeting growth markets such as China and India as well as our core markets. A major barrier to visitors from these countries is the bureaucracy associated with getting a visa. Minister’s Hanafin and Ahern must collaborate to resolve this issue as a matter of urgency. As an island nation who relies on air links we must remove or significantly reduce the air travel tax which acts as a barrier to entry. All that we hear form the Government is however, silence

“Rapid action is required to stabilise the accommodation sector and the entire tourism industry. It is an industry suffering from a legacy of disastrous Government incentives and underinvestment in core areas. Without state intervention in the areas of supply and demand there will only be state run (NAMA and the banks) accommodation left in most towns and cities in Ireland.”