Unbooked Irish hotels send staff on holiday

Business is so poor in Irish hotels this summer that staff are being asked to take their holidays in what is normally peak season.

John Power, chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation, said that "several hotels" have had to ask staff to take holidays in June and July, in what should be their busiest time. They were reluctant to lay off staff they had trained, he said, because they were still hoping there could be a late surge in business.

Power made his remarks after a meeting in Dublin last week with new tourism minister John O'Donoghue to discuss what many in the trade are already calling a disastrous season. He had emphasised to the minister the need for a new marketing drive in the USA and Britain to encourage late bookings.

A similar plea has been made by the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation, the umbrella body for the trade, which claimed visitor numbers from the USA look set for a six-year low.

But with ministers under pressure to curb spending, as Ireland's "Celtic tiger" economy runs out of steam, there is unlikely to be any increase in the €27m (£17.3m) marketing allocation for the year, even though most of it is already spent.

Meanwhile, a survey by CERT, the tourism training agency, shows that hotels in Dublin have been worst hit by the slump, with almost two-thirds reporting a fall in business in the first six months of the year.

Across the rest of the country, the picture was less bleak, but the survey also revealed that, in a bid to attract business, some 60% of hotels have cut their prices - some by as much as 20%.

by Anthony Garvey

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 11 - 17 July 2002