A North Clare hotelier is downplaying a warning that this county is in danger of being overly reliant on its tourism sector.
New figures from GeoDirectory have revealed that the number of commercial vacancies in Clare has remained steady over the past year but over a fifth of all of the businesses in the county are in the tourism industry.
GeoDirectory’s report covering the final three months of 2019 has revealed that just shy of 15% of commercial buildings in this county are lying idle.
That figure has remained relatively steady over the past 12 months, though the rates in Clare’s main towns are higher again.
Ennis has a vacancy rate of 17.5%, the figure for Shannon is 23.7% and it’s 26.5% in Kilrush.
The figures also show that some 21% of businesses are in the food, hospitality and accommodation sectors
CEO of GeoDirectory Dara Keogh is warning Brexit may hit this hard.
Despite this warning, though, a North Clare hotelier says this county should hold strong thanks to the level of tourism coming from the likes of Europe and North America.
Michael Vaughan, who runs Vaughan’s Lodge Hotel in Lahinch, believes Brexit will not prove the death knell that some have predicted it will, for tourism in Clare.
Vaughan, who is a Fianna Fáil candidate in the upcoming Seanad election, says the sector could reverse the high commercial vacancy rates in some of the worst-hit parts of Clare.
