Enniscorthy woman to discuss tourism
AN Enniscorthy woman will be speaking at a key tourism event this Thursday.
Mags Boland from Bofin Consultancy will address people at the new Tourism Space Live conference.
Established by Tina O’Dwyer the conference will focus on maintaining competitiveness in the Irish tourism sector in difficult trading conditions.
Tina said that the Government’s decision to increase
VAT From 9 per cent to 13.5 per cent is considered to have severely dented the sector’s competitiveness. In addition, labour costs are rising, skilled labour is scarce and there are issues in the supply of accommodation. And that’s all before the impact of Brexit is fully known.
However she said that these factors along with exchange rates and consumer confidence are making Ireland less attractive to the British holiday maker. Tina said that with over 70 per cent of all overseas visitors to Ireland coming from the UK, the effect on local tourism businesses could be enormous.
Despite this Tina remains hopeful about the tourism industry. ‘World tourism is in growth, and Ireland continues to attract a healthy slice of the pie. The industry is now estimated to be worth a record €9.2 billion annually with the sector now supporting 270,000 jobs. The additional earnings from overseas tourists in 2018 alone yielded more that €100million extra to the Exchequer in direct tourism-related taxes.’
Tourism Space Live is a new professional development, self-empowerment and networking event for tourism professionals and takes place at Thomond Park in Limerick on Thursday.