Irish Hospitality Industry Manifesto published

The Irish tourism and hospitality sector accounts for 265,000 jobs, some 11% of total employment in the country, and provides this employment and business activity in every parish in every county across the country.  In our view, the next Government should focus on five strategic drivers of sustainability and growth for the tourism and hospitality sector.

They are:

Taxation
Restore the 9% VAT rate on hospitality and tourism to drive our international competitiveness.  Ireland has the highest excise taxes on alcohol in Europe.  This should be reduced to EU norms over the lifetime of the next Government to support our domestic drinks industry

Hospitality Skills & Staff Availability
With the economy virtually at full employment, the difficulties of finding skilled staff, across all of our business functions, is now extreme.  The next Government should increase investment in hospitality skills development including apprenticeships, equalising training allowances for hospitality apprentices, promoting hospitality careers to school leavers, and boosting the availability of skilled workers via more effective employment permit schemes.

Insurance
Rapidly escalating premia for public liability insurance, and the enormous levels of awards being granted on claims pay-outs, are threatening the sustainability of many Irish tourism and hospitality businesses.  Government action, not analysis, is now urgently required and should concentrate on the Alliance for Insurance Reform’s asks to:

State-Driven Business Costs
The State imposes a huge variety of costs on our sector, many of which are now increasing at much faster rates than inflation, damaging our longer-term competitiveness.  These include commercial rates, water charges, licensing and other regulatory-driven costs, (e.g. calories on menus).  A commitment to create a more business-friendly environment, with a review of the totality of costs and bureaucracy imposed by the State on the tourism and hospitality sector is required.Dedicated  Minister of Tourism
We believe our sector requires a powerful advocate at Cabinet level, with a sole focus on Irish tourism and its longer-term development.  This focus and accountability is essential to developing our sector over the lifetime of the next GovernmentCan you confirm whether you support our priorities and whether you will include them as part of your manifesto for General Election 2020?We look forward to your response.