Hotels & TourismThe building of new hotels will drop dramatically from next year with the phasing out of the Capital Allowances scheme, writes Joan Scales

This has been yet another bumper year for tourism with more than 6.3 million visitors in the first nine months of the year. Good news for the hotel industry where more than 110 new hotels have opened in the past two years, adding in excess of 10,000 rooms to the national stock. Many existing hotels have been refurbished, added rooms and improved facilities.

Despite the huge increase in room numbers , the occupancy rate has stayed constant at 59 per cent countrywide, with Dublin having the highest occupancy rate at 70 per cent.

The domestic market accounts for 62 per cent of all bed nights sold.

New hotels opened in the past year include the Radisson SAS Royal, Dylan, Comfort Inn, Hilton Kilmainham and Hilton Express, Louis Fitzgerald, Comfort, and two in Ballymun, Dublin.

Around the country, Cork International at the airport, Maritime in Bantry, Fel's Point in Tralee, Carton House in Maynooth, McWilliam Park in Claremorris, Lough Rynn in Leitrim, Marriott in Ashbourne and Knightsbrook in Trim are just a few of the many.

All the regions are showing good growth, particularly Ireland west, where rooms increased by 11 per cent and growth was an additional 4 per cent. New hotels include the Clayton, Twelve, Ice House, Diamond House, Glasshouse and hotels on Inis Bofin and Inis Mor.

Highest growth has been in the four-star category where the number of rooms has increased by 30 per cent, and rooms sold increased by 35 per cent.

This may have been at the cost of the five-star market where occupancy levels have declined. Three major new five-star hotels opened this year, Sheraton Fota Island, the Capella Castlemartyr, Co Cork, and the Ritz Carlton at Powerscourt.

The Shelbourne reopened after two years of refurbishment. The Solis Lough Eske, the first five-star hotel in Donegal, is expected to open in December.

The only region not showing growth was Shannon, though room supply has increased by 10 per cent and visitor numbers are higher than they were in 2006. New hotels in Limerick this year include the Hilton, Marriott, Absolute, and Quality hotels.

The backbone of the hotel industry, the three-star market, is showing slow but steady growth, probably at the expense of the bed and breakfast market, where the decline began some years ago. Occupancy here is running around 60 per cent.

The Town and Country Homes Association and the Irish Farmhouse Holidays Association have issued a joint guide for 2008 and they will work together on a marketing campaign. The guide covers 1,300 B&Bs in Ireland.

The Irish Hotels Federation also issued its guide Be Our Guest which now contains more than 1,000 hotels and guesthouses in Ireland. The website, www.irelandhotels.com, has been upgraded for faster bookings.

Despite a good occupancy level, all is not good news for Dublin, with the upcoming loss of three four-star and one five-star hotel, accounting for 1,100 bedrooms, of the Jurys Doyle group.

The Irish Tour Operators Association has issued a report showing how the quality of hotel accommodation in Dublin has declined, with less four- and five-star properties compared to other major cities and, significantly, it fears a downturn.

Critical to the city is the loss of conference and banqueting facilities.

When the Burlington closes at the end of this year, the ability to host large numbers in the city centre will be gone and 53 conference and 67 syndicate rooms will have been lost.

The damage to Dublin's reputation as a convention destination has already begun, with the city slipping from 20 to 32 in the rankings of the International Congress and Convention Association. The figures are based on the number of international association meetings held in each city. The ranking for 2007 will slip further.

The building of new hotels will drop dramatically from next year with the phasing out of the Capital Allowances scheme. While there will be an oversupply in some areas, in the long term if tourism numbers continue to grow and with the opening of the new National Convention Centre at Spencer Dock, we may end up turning away business.