Welcome to the latest edition of Crowe / Horwath HTL Ireland Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure (HTL) market update, where we take a look at the wider tourism sector and provide hotel commentary, sectoral updates and noteworthy news. In this edition, we share a selection of our key industry developments and insights, including Ireland’s hotel performance, transactions, tourism trends, and the latest updates on hotel supply.

Crowe Ireland is delighted to publish the 28th edition of the Ireland Annual Hotel Industry Survey. This year’s survey captures a full year trading for hotels unlike any of the three prior years which were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The results continue to illustrate the remarkable recovery in the marketplace post-pandemic and while the impact of high cost inflation and the war in Ukraine have moderated, these are more than made up for by increased costs of doing business, especially payroll. The survey also collates hotelier sentiment on key matters which impacted their businesses during the year and their outlook on the strength of the recovery on revenues, costs and profit levels.

Crowe is delighted to publish the 27th edition of the Ireland Annual Hotel Industry Survey. This year’s survey, in contrast to our previous surveys, sets out to capture the financial recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2022 as compared to the financial year 2019. The results illustrate the changed marketplace that exists post the pandemic and the impact of high cost inflation and the fallout from the war in Ukraine. The survey also collates hotelier sentiment on key matters which impacted their businesses during the year and their outlook on the strength of the recovery on revenues, costs and profit levels.

Crowe/Horwath HTL Ireland recently released the 26th Annual Hotel Industry Survey – a survey of the Pandemic Era, 2020 and 2021. Across 2020 and 2021, the hotel sector in Ireland recorded a massive loss in revenue due to the Government restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, including periods of business closure, travel restrictions and social distancing as well as the reduction in worldwide travel. Revenue fell by 65% in 2020 and 49% in 2021 against 2019 levels. The extremely low occupancy levels of 29.6% in 2020 and 39.5% in 2021, compared to 73.8% in 2019, further confirm the unprecedented impact that the pandemic had on business levels in comparison to a normal year of trading. The cumulative impact of supports from the Government was to convert the sector from loss-making to profitable at EBITDAR level. These supports included a reduction in VAT to 9%, payroll support schemes (TWSS and EWSS), the COVID Response Support Scheme (CRSS) and other grants and cost waivers. However, the levels of EBITDAR profits for 2020 and 2021 were still down 82% and 42% respectively on 2019 levels.compared to 2019, reflecting the unprecedented challenges faced by the industry.