February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Once again, uncertainty in the world due to the expected war in the Persian Gulf was blamed.
Irish Hotels Federation president Jim Murphy said, “There’s no quick-fix solution to the problems faced by the industry,” and demanded government cuts in sales tax to boost the hotel economy.
Dermott Jewell of the Consumer Association immediately responded by suggesting that if the hotel owners wanted to boost sales they should drop their room prices.
“To suggest the remedies to problems in the hotel sector lies in concessions not available to other sectors, is impossible,” he said. “The difficulty with the tourism industry is that it has been shown not to be competitive and not price conscious or price sensitive with other tourist destinations.
“Every consumer would expect concessions, but they have to be earned. The difficulties with tourism are experienced in every other industry.”
Murphy said the tourism industry was being urged to tighten its belt and provide competitive pricing while the Minister for Finance was endeavoring to further erode the sector’s competitive advantage by increasing VAT.
“The government can’t have it both ways,” he said.