The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) – the umbrella representative group for tourism and hospitality interests – has welcomed a new focus on tourism issues from the political parties campaigning for the upcoming General Election at the end of this month.
Fine Gael has promised the permanently lower the VAT rate for hospitality businesses from 13.5% to 11% and to reduce employer PRSI rates. Fianna Fáil has also talked up PRSI reform and has said it would scrap the Dublin Airport passenger cap.
Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, CEO of ITIC, said: “Tourism is the largest indigenous industry and biggest regional employer in the country. It is vital that it features prominently in the election debate and forms a central pillar of the next Programme for Government”.
ITIC launched its election manifesto last month. In it, the Confederation called for a return to the 9% VAT rate for hospitality, the removal of the Dublin Airport passenger cap, a new national tourism policy, the reinstallation of a dedicated Minister of State for Tourism and a doubling in the investment budget for domestic and inbound tourism, which currently stands at “a wholly inadequate” €226m.
ITIC’s tourism/election manifesto is here: https://www.itic.ie/itic-pub-docs/ITIC-GE-Manifesto-Voting-for-Tourism.pdf
