A forum for the tourism sector in Clare has urged a fairer dispersal of refugees across the country, saying operators in the Banner have been hit hard by the government’s decision to use some 37% of the available accommodation to house migrants and asylum seekers.
The Clare Tourism Advisory Forum has written to Minister Roderic O’Gorman saying that: “the 37% reduction in the number of available bed nights in County Clare due to the repurposing of hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses has resulted in a significant loss to the local tourism economy.”
Vice Chairman of the forum, Maurice Walsh said that the high number of refugees sent to the county had “impacted County Clare’s competitiveness.”
He said that tourism in Clare tourism is suffering due to the loss of over a third of tourism accommodation in the county – and said that the forum urged the government “to intensify efforts to audit and repurpose State-owned properties for accommodation”.
“The Clare Tourism Advisory Forum, the representative body for the tourism industry in County Clare, wishes to bring to your attention a matter of serious concern to those operating within the local tourism and hospitality sector,” he wrote.
“While Clare tourism operators acknowledge the unprecedented crisis facing Europe and Ireland’s international obligations to accommodate International Protection Applicants and those seeking temporary protection, we feel that the County Clare hospitality sector has contributed more than most other parts of Ireland and that efforts to reduce the dependence on accommodation providers in tourism-reliant counties would be welcomed,” the open letter said.
Speaking to the Clare Champion on Wednesday, Mr Walsh said: “The whole night time economy in Clare has really gone non-existent in the last 5-7 weeks.”
He said that Clare was “definitely at our limit at this stage or gone over our limit compared to counties on the east coast of the country.”
Mr Walsh added that there was less work available in the sector than was typical at this time of year.
“There’s definitely an impact in that you are not recruiting as many people as you would have had to have in other years. Unfortunately with the people that have been recruited, you send them home early or bring them in later. The work isn’t there. It has a knock on effect and it will have a knock on effect in the quieter months that are coming,” he told the paper.
If the percentage of tourist accommodation given to migrants and refugees increased further “you will definitely have businesses closing,” he said. “Clare tourism has been very resilient but this will affect people and they will have to close.”
Mr Walsh runs Durty Nelly’s in Bunratty and he says that has been hit hard, with a huge amount of accommodation no longer available to tourists. “There is zero night time accommodation and zero footfall.”
“Usually at this time of year there’s a high volume of tourists into the county, people looking at restaurants or looking for a bit of entertainment, a bit of music in local bars. At local coffee shops during the day the footfall is way down, in restaurants the footfall is way down and it’s a direct consequence of 37% of the bank of accommodation in Clare being used by refugees.”
Ministers have been told that up to 10,000 Irish tourism jobs have been displaced due to hotel bed shortages, with the full cost to the sector perhaps reaching €1.1 billion in lost tourism spending.
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Figures released in May of this year suggested that Killarney would lose €100.80m in revenue and some 2,722 jobs would be displaced in tourism.
In Clare, it was expected that Ennis would lose €15.40m in revenue and 415jobs, while Ennistymon would be down €5.10m and 138 jobs.
Local people in Inch organised a bloackade and protest in May saying they were disappointed and letdown at the government’s decision to open a migrant centre at the Magowna House Hotel.
Figures from the International Protection Office have shown that significant numbers of those arriving here are coming, not from war-torn zones like Ukraine, but from countries like Georgia, Nigeria and Algeria.
Letter from the Clare Tourism Advisory Forum To Minister For Integration, Roderic O’Gorman
“Dear Minister O’Gorman, The Clare Tourism Advisory Forum, the representative body for the tourism industry in County Clare, wishes to bring to your attention a matter of serious concern to those operating within the local tourism and hospitality sector.
We are appealing to you to explore all possible opportunities for ensuring accommodation provided to International Protection Applicants and those seeking temporary protection is more evenly dispersed across the country, instead of being heavily concentrated in western counties such as County Clare that are reliant on tourism.
The 37% reduction in the number of available bed nights in County Clare due to the repurposing of hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses has resulted in a significant loss to the local tourism economy and has, consequently, impacted County Clare’s competitiveness.
The County Clare tourism sector is robust, and the lengthy track record of local operators working together to promote and develop our industry has been instrumental in partly offsetting the impact of reduced bed nights in County Clare.
With a view to easing the accommodation shortage in the Clare hospitality sector and in support of the Government’s programme of sourcing appropriate accommodation for international protection applicants and those seeking international protection, the Clare Tourism Advisory Forum respectfully requests your government to intensify efforts to audit and repurpose State-owned properties for accommodation.
This includes all properties under the remit of the Defence Forces, the Office of Public Works, Department of Transport, Department of Education along with other governmental departments and State Agencies.
While Clare tourism operators acknowledge the unprecedented crisis facing Europe and Ireland’s international obligations to accommodate International Protection Applicants and those seeking temporary protection, we feel that the County Clare hospitality sector has contributed more than most other parts of Ireland and that efforts to reduce the dependence on accommodation providers in tourism-reliant counties would be welcomed.
We look forward to hearing from you regarding the Government’s stated position on this issue, which, if forthcoming, might ease the concerns of our members and help to protect the future viability of our sector.”