Improved levels of business before, during and after festival
Fáilte Ireland today reported that St Patrick’s weekend is proving to be a very positive start to the tourism season for most Dublin hotels with a noticeable increase in occupancy and significantly improved levels of business in the run-up to the week-end as well as the period afterwards.
Most of the key hotels in the city centre were full with many significantly busy up until March 22nd. Hotels in particular were noticing a significant increase in pre- and post-event traffic as well as, in many cases, larger group bookings. All of the larger Dublin hotels were also hosting a good amount of North American business with some hotels observing particularly strong levels of US visitors. There was, across all hotels, a good strong mix of increased domestic, Northern, and UK visitors also. Many of the most popular hotels were at 100% occupancy - an increase of their 2012 performance (almost 85%) which was considered excellent at the time.
Overall, Dublin hotels are reporting their March as very strong with some recording increases of 10% and above year on year.
Commenting on the mood in the capital’s hotels, Shaun Quinn, CEO of Fáilte Ireland emphasised:
“This St Patrick's day bounce bodes well for our expectations for The Gathering this year and hopefully will be start of a pattern this season. With an enhanced St Patrick’s festival, this was our biggest March tourism push to date and the performance of hotels in the city really confirms that events do drive business in Dublin. Despite the downturn, Irish hotels are still managing the trick of providing good value with impressive quality and it is no wonder that so many of them fared well over the weekend. The level of overseas business in the capital over the last few days is very encouraging. It is imperative now that everybody with a stake in The Gathering or tourism, keeps their eye on the prize and helps to drive this type of performance throughout the year.”
Initial indications also show that there was a good turnover in business throughout tradtional visitor destinations in the rest of the country at the weekend. Fáilte Ireland will be carrying out a full and detailed impact study on the St Patrick's festival as part of its ongoing measurement of progress for The Gathering.
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ENDS
For further information please contact:
Alex Connolly – Head of Communications
086 7966320
Louise Tolerton - Press Officer
086 6086578
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