‘Missed opportunity’ – hoteliers say new Government measures not enough to protect 4,300 tourism jobs in Kilkenny
Kilkenny hoteliers have claimed the Government’s stimulus package does not go far enough to support the 4,300 local jobs that rely on tourism.
Colm Neville, Chair of the South East Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, claimed the sweeping series of measures announced last week are not enough to support the tourism sector, which has been decimated by the pandemic.
Mr Neville said: “We are disappointed that the Government failed to deliver a reduction in tourism VAT. This is a missed opportunity given how highly effective the previous reduced VAT rate was in promoting increased employment. We now have a higher rate of VAT than 30 other European countries with which we compete.
“This is untenable from a competitiveness point of view and puts us at a serious disadvantage, particularly when consider our nearest neighbours Northern Ireland and Britain now have a tourism VAT rate of 5%. We will be engaging further with the Government on this critical issues as part of the October National Economic Plan.
“While measures to stimulate consumer demand are welcome, we have serious doubts about how effective the ‘Stay and Spend’ tax credit scheme will be in stimulating consumer demand. It seems overly cumbersome and convoluted, and we are urgently seeking further clarification from the Government on how the measure will operate,” he added.
