Joe Dolan, of the Bush Hotel, Carrick on Shannon has been elected President of the Irish Hotels Federation for a two-year term.
A second generation hotelier with over 25 years’ experience in the hotel sector, Joe becomes the 36th President of the IHF, succeeding Stephen McNally.
Joe is a native of Co. Leitrim and a graduate of Queens University Belfast and Cornell State University. With his wife Rosie, he is owner manager of the Bush Hotel, a three-star property located in the centre of Carrick-on-Shannon.
Joe has been an active member of the IHF for many years. He currently serves as a member of the Federation’s National Executive Council and as Chairman of Leitrim Tourism. Prior to his election, Joe was Vice-President of the IHF. He has held the position of Chair of the Sligo/Leitrim/Roscommon branch of the Federation and was previously a director of Fáilte Ireland North West.
During his presidency, Joe will give priority to addressing ongoing challenges facing the hotel and guesthouse sector, focusing on creating a positive business environment that allows Irish tourism to live up to its full potential. His priority areas include tackling the high cost of doing business in Ireland; the restoration of investment by Government in tourism marketing and product development; and increased support for regional tourism.
“Tourism has made significant progress in recent years, in large part due to the hard work and perseverance of thousands of tourism businesses including hotel and guesthouse operators. An upturn in the global economy has also greatly helped as have a number of pro-tourism initiatives from the Government, such as the 9% VAT and zero rate air passenger tax. However, continued growth cannot be taken for granted. Market conditions within our industry remain challenging, particularly outside of the larger urban areas and traditional tourism hotspots.”
“We’re only at the start of a long journey and a lot more needs to be done to ensure sustained growth in tourism over the medium to longterm,” says Mr Dolan. “Serious challenges include the high cost of doing business in Ireland, particularly around Government controlled costs such as local authority rates. Significant additional investment is also required to support tourism marketing and product development – areas where funding has been significantly reduced since 2008.”
Inadequate investment in marketing and product development is putting the future success of Irish tourism at risk, over 400 delegates at the Irish Hotels Federation's (IHF) 78th Annual Conference heard today. Newly elected IHF President Joe Dolan warned that economic upturns in Ireland’s major overseas markets have, to a large extent, masked a number of worrying challenges facing the industry which must be tackled head-on in order to secure longterm sustainable growth.
Mr Dolan stated: “Our industry has benefited enormously from positive economic tailwinds from North America and Britain in recent years, contributing to impressive growth in overseas visitor numbers. While this has provided tourism businesses with a much-needed boost, we cannot afford to take recent successes for granted – particularly at a time of increased uncertainty in the global economy. It’s vital that we focus on achieving sustainable growth while safeguarding our market share against potential risks.”
Calling for a new five-year product development plan for Irish tourism, Mr Dolan states that tourism growth is being jeopardised by inadequate levels of investment by the State in tourism product and infrastructure. He called for the provision of a capital budget of €300 million for tourism-specific projects over a five year period. Averaging at €60 million per annum, this is equivalent to 1% of annual export receipts from tourism in the years 2016-2020.
“Product differentiation, innovation and investment are key to maintaining Ireland’s competitive positioning in the international marketplace. This requires continuous investment in product renewal to ensure that out tourism offering keeps pace with changing tastes and global competition. Unfortunately, this an area we risk losing significant ground on as a result of cut-backs in funding over the last five years.”
Mr Dolan cites a reduction in funding for tourism marketing as another major concern for the industry. Since 2008, Tourism Ireland’s annual funding allocation for overseas marketing has fallen dramatically and now stands at an estimated €36 million compared to €62 million in 2008. The knock-on effect has been a significant drop in Ireland’s share of voice across Ireland’s key tourism markets and a damaging loss of brand awareness - at a time when Ireland should be planning ahead and investing in tourism promotion.
“Tourism has shown itself to be an excellent investment for the country, contributing over €7.3bn to the economy annually and employing 205,000 people. Every euro spent in destination marketing by the state results in a €34 visitor spend,” says Mr Dolan. "It’s now time to reverse the cuts to tourism funding, which were made during a period of deep economic crisis. Current low levels of investment cannot be sustained without putting our tourism brand at risk and limiting Irish tourism capacity to expand and grow market share."
Mr Dolan notes the reduction in tourism funding has implications for regional tourism, which is lagging behind in attracting overseas visitors. Unfortunately, recent growth in visitors has not been spread evenly across the country and many rural tourism businesses continue to face tough trading conditions. This is further compounded by the disproportionate negative impact that seasonality has on regional tourism, resulting in major challenges given the vital social and economic role tourism plays in rural areas.
