Hotel bed squeeze hurting Mayo economy – councillors

FÁILTE Ireland officials say they are ‘concerned’ about the knock-on impact of over one-fifth of Mayo’s registered tourist beds being used for refugee accommodation.

Members of Mayo County Council’s Tourism SPC are similarly worried. They aired their concerns about the impact of lost tourist revenue at the SPC’s latest meeting, with one councillor calling for greater ‘balance’ between refugee and tourist accommodation.

Fine Gael county councillor Peter Flynn accused the government of having ‘no regard’ for the longer-term consequences of placing large numbers of refugees in tourist accommodation.

The meeting heard that 21 percent of Fáilte Ireland-registered accommodation in the county is currently housing refugees, compared to 13 percent nationally.

In August, Mayo was one of five counties that had more than 20 percent of its tourist beds being used for refugees. Co Clare had the highest percentage, at 33 percent.

Demand

Demand for refugee accommodation has swelled since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with over 3,000 Ukrainian refugees now living in Mayo.

Most of these people are living in hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses, with some living in private dwellings or accommodation pledged by the public.

The county is also home to over 800 International Protection Applicants living in direct-provision accommodation.

Mayo’s chambers of commerce have been seeking a meeting to discuss a strategy regarding the ongoing fallout from reduced tourist revenue.

Cllr Flynn said that the arrival of people from war-torn countries would be ongoing.

“The crisis in Ukraine is not going to end any time soon” he said. “The migration from other countries who are in political turmoil is not going to end any time soon and is actually going to increase. We need to figure out where again, as a county, are we going.

“Again, what Mayo has done has been incredible in terms of supporting people fleeing from Ukraine and other countries, but there has been no thought given to the consequences and the impacts,” continued Cllr Flynn.

“I’m looking around West Mayo at the moment and the number of businesses that are either closing or are going to close… we can’t ignore that reality.”

Footfall

His comments were echoed by fellow Westport-based representative, Cllr Christy Hyland, who said there needed to be a ‘balance’ between refugee and tourist accommodation.

The Independent councillor called for Fáilte Ireland to meet with Mayo County Council’s housing and tourism sections to discuss how best to balance the competing demands for tourism and refugee accommodation.

“I welcome that we’re stepping up to the plate and doing our best for the Ukrainian people fleeing their country. It’s so sad for them and there’s no sign of the war coming to an end, but we must get the balance right,” said Cllr Hyland, who warned that there was ‘serious damage’ being done to West Mayo’s tourism product.

“If the bed nights are not there, you are talking footfall into the town, the restaurants, the coffee shops, the gift shops, the clothes shops, et cetera, they’re going to be seriously affected.”

Cllr Hyland also expressed concern that Westport would experience a drop in domestic visitors travelling to the town at Christmas due to the shortage of hotel accommodation.

Mags Downey Martin, CEO of Ballina Chamber of Commerce, said that every euro spent in a hotel was worth €2.50 for the local economy.

“Thank God for the local business, but the visitors aren’t there as much,” she told the Tourism SPC.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne, Cathaoirleach of the Tourism SPC, said that the shortage of tourist accommodation was the fault of government policy rather than Fáilte Ireland.

“I know of tourists that just couldn’t get accommodation. I know of tour operators that used to send tourists but stopped sending them to Westport. They cannot get accommodation,” Cllr Kilcoyne said.

County audit

When asked by Cllr Flynn for her view on the situation, Fáilte Ireland representative Edel Healy said her organisation was ‘concerned’.

She added that Fáilte Ireland’s chief executive had written to all accommodation providers outlining the body’s concerns.

Fáilte Ireland’s Projects Officer for Mayo, Fionnán Nestor, said that the organisation is conducting a detailed accommodation audit of Mayo to identify the challenges and issues facing hospitality in the county.

He said the audit, which is ‘nearing completion’, would be followed by a meeting with Mayo County Council officials to address those challenges.

Mayo currently has 2,377 hotel rooms. The reduction in rooms available for tourists has been forecast to cost €10 million in lost revenue.

The meeting also heard that 48 Mayo projects had received €2.35 million from the Community Recognition Fund, which is allocated to counties accommodating large numbers of arrivals from Ukraine and other countries.

A further €378,255 was also allocated to Mayo in the Community Support Fund in 2022.