Retention of 9% VAT rate “crucial” to tourism industry

Dublin’s Ashling Hotel has welcomed the Government announcement that the 9% VAT rate will be retained for a further six months. The hotel added that the decision to allow the current 9% VAT rate to remain in place following extensive lobbying from the IHF and various other groups within the hospitality industry and comes ahead of an anticipated busy tourist season was “a significant boost for the domestic tourism market” and “crucial” to the industry overall.

The announcement was made by Government alongside a raft of other measures which are designed to ease the financial difficulties being felt by everyone.

Managing Director of the Ashling Hotel, Ronan Walsh said: “The announcement of the retention of the 9% VAT rate for the a further six months will serve as a significant boost for the industry and we would like to pay tribute to and acknowledge the significant work done by representative groups in the industry to ensure that this was the case.

“Whilst we are fortunate to have had a strong 2022 which saw us win eight national awards, we have invested significantly in both our hotel and staff to ensure we remained competitive and continue to offer best in class standards of customer service for all of our guests.

“Like many hotels in the industry, we had a number of difficult years as a result of the pandemic and feel this extension is needed for the industry as a whole to ensure hotels can continue to trade there way back to pre-pandemic levels and allow the focus to be solely on their guests, providing world class hospitality, that Ireland is renowned for.

“We will continue our investment this year with refurbishment programmes for both the Ashling Hotel, Dublin and the Imperial Hotel in Galway.”

Original article by Hotel and Catering Team D on hotelandcateringreview.ie