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Agustin AIS21 July 11, 2019

Significant shortage in Dublin hotel accommodation

By Aengus Cox

Around 5,500 new hotel beds for Dublin are expected to come on stream by 2020, but this will still leave
capacity in the industry 1,100 beds below demand.

That's according to a report commissioned by tourism development body Fáilte Ireland, which also
indicates a current shortfall of hotel accommodation in the capital of around 3,400 rooms.

Fáilte Ireland Chief Executive Paul Kelly said the shortfall is a "real issue" for everyone because fewer
people are coming to Ireland due to a lack of availability.

"This means we're missing out on thousands of jobs and tens of millions in tax revenue from these
potential tourists.

"It's not just an issue for Dublin though, because Dublin is a gateway to Ireland. About 85% of the people
who come to Ireland come through Dublin and most of them want to spend a night or two in Dublin before or
after they spend five, six, or seven nights around the rest of the country."

This lack of capacity, Mr Kelly says, is causing other destinations around the country to miss out on
potential tourism business.

On the medium-term benefit of the hospitality sector to the economy, the Fáilte Ireland CEO said the
extra capacity coming on-stream over the next three years "will lead to about €55m in extra per year in tax
revenue and several thousand jobs every year in the tourism industry.

"However, it's not enough - we're still around 1,100 beds short by the end of 2020 and the message from
that is ... we need to do everything we can to create the conditions and facilitate further private sector investment
in this area."

On potential reputational damage to Ireland as a result of the extremely low supply of hotel beds, Mr Kelly
said: "I don't think we're suffering really reputational damage, we're just missing out on opportunities.

"Ireland's reputation is still excellent. We still have a reputation as being a really good destination. Just
recently actually we saw in global choice awards from Trip Advisor, Ireland came fourth overall in the world for
traveller visitor experience."

He added: "It's more a question of us being able to take advantage of the demand that's out there and
facilitate that."

On the disruption to the accommodation market of Airbnb, Mr Kelly said "overall Airbnb is good news for
tourism.

"It (Airbnb) increases both the quantity of accommodation capacity that's out there, but also the variety
and meets the new and emerging consumer needs for different types of accommodation.

"I think in Dublin we've been very reliant on it given the shortage of hotel capacity that we've had. We've
probably been a little bit over reliant and that's why it's really important that we get this investment into tourism-
dedicated accommodation, which will accommodate tourists in an efficient way in buildings and areas that are
suitable for tourist accommodation and prevent an overspread of tourism into tourism in apartments, houses and
neighbourhoods that are better suited for residential development."

Reference:
Cox, A. (2018, August 27). Significant shortage in Dublin hotel accommodation. Retrieved July 10, 2019, from
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rte.ie/amp/987763/