Room take-up well below national average

OCCUPANCY levels in hotels and guesthouses in the Shannon Region are lagging behind other parts of the country, according to figures from the Irish Hotels Federation.

 

The IHF annual report shows room occupancy among hotels and guesthouses in the Shannon Region was the second lowest in the country last year. Occupancy here was just 48% compared to 73% in Dublin, 63% in the West, 60% each in the South-East and South-West and 53% in the North-West. The only area with lower occupancy was the East and Midlands with 45%.

Room occupancy in the Shannon Region is well below the national average of 61%. It is the only area where the percentage of rooms occupied decreased from 2011.

The problems faced by the region are due to a number of factors including “the failure of tourism in Limerick City,” according to Clare hotelier and president of the IHF, Michael Vaughan.

“I would have to put the decline in occupancy in the region down to pure neglect. I think the region has been neglected in terms of policy nationally and we haven’t had a good plan for tourism for the region for quite a number of years,” he stated.

Mr Vaughan cited the loss of British and American tour groups as a major obstacle for the recovery of the region, noting that tours which used to fly into Shannon are, post Open Skies, flying into Dublin Airport and travelling down the M6 to Galway and staying there.

“The failure of tourism in Limerick City has had a huge knock-on effect in Clare for the simple reason that Limerick has been competing at lower prices than Clare tourism has been able to offer. As a result, European tours have been basing themselves in Limerick rather than Clare,” he said.

“Limerick City has not developed in the same lines as Galway has developed. Between Limerick, Clare and Tipperary as the Shannon Region, we would have had €240 million euros worth of tourism from overseas in 2011. The county of Galway alone generated €320m worth of overseas tourism. The problem in Limerick has been the lack of any cohesive promotion plan and a basic failure in making attractive product offerings, in other words, things to do and see,” Mr Vaughan added.

Within Clare too, improvements must be made, he said.

“There is also an appreciation out there that we need to redevelop aspects of Bunratty to make it more attractive to European travellers and the family market. I would also say that the Wild Atlantic Way offers the best proposition for us but that doesn’t come in until 2014,” Mr Vaughan commented.

Speaking to The Clare Champion, the Lahinch hotelier criticised a lack of investment in promoting the region but said he believed this would be countered shortly.

“Shannon Development’s financial situation in the last few years has meant less money available to spend on tourism promotion. I have been given assurances at a high level in Fáilte Ireland that the region is now to get special attention in the coming years. We have been nominated as a priority one region for actions in terms of recovery. Recovery hasn’t happened in the Shannon Region and the senior executives in Fáilte Ireland have been made aware of this in recent weeks. There is a high-level working group in Clare and Limerick and we are working with Failte Ireland. We are awaiting the appointment of a tourism director for the region and I believe that is imminent. I would hope we would see a senior appointment being made to take responsibility for the Shannon Region within a short period,” he concluded.