'Urgent need' for hotels to attract British tourists

There is an urgent need to attract more hotel business from overseas and the challenge lies in winning back British tourists, according to the chief executive of the Irish Hotel Federation, John Power.

Speaking on the eve of the federation's annual conference in Kilkenny, he said the domestic market has grown "massively" throughout the boom years, with almost two-thirds of bookings last year made by Irish people.

Over 300 hoteliers and scores of trade exhibitors will gather in the Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny tomorrow for the start of the three-day conference.

Delegates will discuss how to fill the thousands of new hotel rooms built during the past decade. The number of hotel bedrooms in Ireland now stands at 58,000, more than double the 27,000 figure in 1997.

There are 904 hotels in the State, employing some 57,000 people. The fastest expanding category is the four-star sector with the number of hotels in this area having almost trebled in just two years, from 80 to 231.

Power said people seeking "good deals" in Irish hotels this spring and summer should go directly to a hotel's website to find the best offers, rather than going through third-party companies advertising on the internet.

Speakers at the conference include the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Séamus Brennan and the worldwide president of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Cork-born, Toronto-based Jim FitzGibbon.

The conference won't be all hard work, however. Proceedings will swing off with a golf outing to Mount Juliet in Thomastown tomorrow followed by an evening of medieval entertainment in Kilkenny Castle with dinner in the round tower.

Lyrath Estate Hotel was the subject of a 2006 RTÉ television fly-on-the-wall documentary, "5-Star."