Hotel, Tourism & Leisure Market Update
July 2024
We are delighted to share the latest Hotel, Tourism & Leisure Market Update from Crowe, where we take a look at the wider tourism sector and provide hotel commentary, sectoral updates and noteworthy news.
In this edition (pdf), we examine how the market is performing, some of the challenges facing the industry, pipeline and supply, transactions, and hospitality news.
Key Insights in our Hotel, Tourism & Leisure Update
Hotel Performance
Ireland's hotel sector saw a drop in performance in Q2 2024 due in part to new supply, and more normalised demand, compared to a very strong equivalent trading period in 2023. The VAT increase from 9% to 13.5% continues to impact Average Daily Rate and utility costs have continued to reduce as inflation stabilises. The Dublin hotel sector ended Q2 on a high note, experiencing a significant surge in bookings driven by multiple major events
Hotel Transactions
There has been a steady flow of notable hotels coming to market during the first half of the year including the Slieve Russell Hotel, Mount Juliet Hotel and the Fleet Hotel. 2024 is shaping up to be a very strong year for hotel deals, indicating interest in this asset class that provides a strong hedge against inflation.
Hotel Supply
The Chancery Hotel & Ruby Molly hotels opened in Dublin while the Radisson Red has been announced as the new hotel brand for the 177-bed Crown Square hotel in Galway.
Irish Hotels Federation Investment Conference
Crowe is delighted to have attended the Irish Hotels Federation 10th Irish Hotel Investment Conference. Aiden Murphy, Corporate Finance & Recovery Partner at Crowe, presented a session that covered the "Invest to Save" business strategy where investment in ESG activities would yield "green premiums" for hotels.
Tourism News
The CSO recently released Inbound Tourism 2023 figures indicating there were 6.3 million foreign visitors to Ireland in 2023.
The key findings include:
- The visitors' most frequent reason (40.6%) for travelling to Ireland was for holidays.
- The visitors stayed a total of 51.1 million nights in the country.
- The total estimated expenditure of the visitors was €7.3 billion.
- The visitors stayed on average 8.2 nights and spent on average €1,171 on their trips.
