A HIGH-PROFILE tourism company in the midwest has imposed salary reductions of 10 per cent on its 300 staff in response to the company incurring losses of over €250,000 in 2008.

Shannon Heritage Ltd operates Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and a range of other visitor attractions.

Accounts just filed at the Companies’ Office show that the Shannon Development subsidiary incurred losses of €254,476 in the year to the end of December 2008, compared to a pretax profit of €27,745 in 2007.

The company confirmed yesterday visitor numbers to its attractions last year fell 13 per cent from 505,968 to about 440,000.

The drop in tourist numbers has resulted in the company imposing a 10 per cent pay reduction or 12.5 per cent reduction in hours worked for staff and management.

Chief executive of Shannon Heritage John Ruddle confirmed the reduction yesterday, but said that staff numbers at Shannon Heritage remained unchanged during 2009.

“The company is making the retention of its full staff complement a key 2010 priority in this very difficult climate,” said Mr Ruddle. “The Shannon Heritage operation is vitally important to tourism in the Shannon region as it continues to annually contribute an estimated €20 million to the local economy in resulting revenue and indirectly supports many more jobs in the wider region.”

Visitor numbers to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park dropped by 11 per cent from 343,675 to 305,557 in 2008, while visitors to Bunratty Banquets dropped by 12 per cent from 65,878 to 57,911.

The accounts show Shannon Heritage sustained a fall of 10.5 per cent in gross profit from €9 million to €8 million that year.

The €254,000 loss sustained in 2008 reduced the company’s accumulated profits to €621,237.