Mayo hotelier urges councillors to reject hotel bedroom tax

A hotelier has urged councillors in Westport not to support a proposal for a hotel bedroom tax as a means of raising revenue for local authorities.

Addressing a meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District last week, Joe Corcoran of tourism group Destination Westport said "there has already been a tsunami of increases when you take into account that rates were revalued last year and went up substantially for hotels". 

"A bedroom tax, on top of rising food prices and then the increase in the minimum wage, where wages would be well over 40% of turnover in each hotel; then we had the auto enrolment for pensions, so the costs have really gone up in recent years. The government has helped with the VAT reduction but if the bed tax comes up, we would like to urge the councillors not to support it," Mr Corcoran appealed.

Cllr Brendan Mulroy supported the call, saying he would not be voting for any tax on visitors. 

"For the government to come in and tax you again on your own success would be entirely wrong.” 

 Cllr Paul McNamara stated that “rates is a big bugbear" for him and he wondered "what do businesses get for this money”.

"A bedroom tax, if it came in, would be the end of Destination Westport," he predicted.

Referring to a stated 1,400 employees employed by the Corcoran Hotel Group in Westport, Cllr McNamara said this figure was "phenomenal", adding: “That’s four small factories, and it has a knock-on from the Quay in Westport all the way to Belmullet.” 

He said that while Mayo County Council has played a part in promoting tourism, only around €250,000 is allocated towards tourism in the annual budget and more money must be invested in all areas.

"I do think the council can play a bigger part in tourism. I would ask Mayo County Council to seriously look at what they are promoting and then what they are funding because it’s the easiest thing to put up banners and pictures of North Mayo and Keem Bay but what realistic money are they putting into tourism to move it forward?” 

Cllr Sean Carey said Westport was so fortunate to have the nine hotels coming together under the Destination Westport umbrella. He noted that his native Belmullet is increasing its tourist numbers all the time through excellent local hotels. Cllr Carey also called for the council to invest more in light of the commercial rates that hoteliers are being asked to pay.

“You are paying €1 million annually in rates and I think what you get for that could be a lot better, particularly in rural areas. This municipal district is the biggest ratepayer in the county and that’s because we have the biggest businesses also contributing. We would like to see more of that money being spent to help facilities and provide more services."

Cathaoirleach Cllr Brendan Mulroy told Mr Corcoran: “You can rest assured we will be looking for more funding for tourism.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.