IHF says positive signs in 2012 annual report

The tourism industry experienced some optimistic signals last year – with many hotels and guest houses reporting increased occupancy levels in 2012.

In its annual report Irish Hotels Federation says national room occupancy levels stood at 61 per cent last year, compared with 56 per cent in 2011.

However, despite the number of overseas visitors increasing slightly by 0.2 per cent last year – the number of tourists coming from Britain actually decreased by over 100 thousand.

Hoteliers are now calling on the Central Statistics Office to improve the quality of the data it provides on tourism –

President of the Irish Hotels Federation and Lahinch Hotelier Michael Vaughan.