Fáilte Ireland has asserted that a shortage of hotel rooms in Dublin is in danger of adversely impacting Irish tourism in the coming months.
The agency has released a new report stating that there is currently a high number of nights when hotels in the capital are booked to near-capacity, causing difficulties for visitors seeking accommodation while simultaneously resulting in higher room rates, reports The Irish Examiner.
The report referenced a recent survey which revealed that hotels both in the city and in close proximity to Dublin airport averaged approximately 90% room occupancy for more than half of all nights in 2016. The average cost for a room in a hotel with such high occupancy rose from €95 per night in 2014 to €140 per night last year.
The report went on to state that Dublin had the highest hotel occupancy rate among major European cities in 2016 and that there will continue to be an accommodation shortage in the capital through to 2018. However, it noted that there should be a surplus capacity from 2019 onwards due to 69 projects in the planning stages that promise to provide the city with almost 6,000 additional bedrooms.
