NITB warns of looming bed shortage

Bedspaces in Northern Ireland will have to virtually double by the end of the century to accommodate rising numbers of visitors, the province's tourist board warned last week.

Hugh O'Neill, chairman of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), said 17,000 beds would be needed on top of the present 20,000 if trends continued.

The main increase has so far been seen in the number of visitors from the Republic of Ireland, which swelled by 148% in the last four months of 1994, compared with the same period in 1993.

Reservations for accommodation made in the NITB's Dublin office rose by 155%, compared with a year earlier. Mr O'Neill said the board hoped tourism would double its current 2% contribution to Northern Ireland's economy over the next five years.

He warned that access to the province would have to improve to allow a rise in visitors from outside Britain and Ireland.

Vienna Group, the London-based company that claims to be Bayswater's biggest hotelier, has added two properties to its portfolio.

The company has paid "in excess of £6m" for the 212-bedroom Atlantic Hotel and the 52-bedroom Linden Hotel, both in the Bayswater area. The properties were bought from separate overseas owners.

The two-star Linden Hotel, which had been revamped during an 18-month closure, has now been renamed the Vienna New Linden.

The Atlantic Hotel reopened last week as the Vienna New Atlantic after completion of a five-month internal refurbishment. Like the group's Porchester and London House hotels, it will target the student market and budget travellers.

Vienna has been trading since 1972 and operates eight London hotels (four are directly owned) with a total of 750 bedrooms.