Hoteliers in Kerry urged the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, to press for a cap on local authority rates and a reduction in VAT at a meeting in Killarney yesterday.
Ireland's VAT rate on accommodation was twice that of Spain and the fourth-highest in the EU, they told him.
The hoteliers and registered guesthouses wanted local authorities to operate more efficiently with better control over expenditure. Only registered guesthouses and hotels paid rates and the sector feared huge increases in rates to pay for benchmarking.
The recent recommendation in the report of the Tourism Policy Review Group that the number of overseas visitors staying at least one night in the Border, Midland and Western region be doubled was a "cause of great concern to Kerry", Mr O'Donoghue was told at the pre-budgetary submission of the Kerry branch of the Irish Hoteliers Federation (IHF).
Kerry already had a huge supply of accommodation which it was hard-pressed to fill. If there were to be a determined effort in the Border, Midland and Western Region, the minister should ensure the same efforts for Kerry, Ms Kathleen O'Reagan-Sheppard, secretary of the IHF said.
Smoking was still an issue, the minister heard. "We are as concerned as ever," Mr Pat Gill, chairman of the Kerry branch of the IHF said. "We remain as concerned as we were before the ardfheis about the effects the smoking ban will have on our industry. We cannot understand the government can't see the effect the ban is going to have on tourism ."
On the question of rates, Mr O'Donoghue said this was a matter for local authorities. VAT and excise duty had been specified in the report and the recommendation there was that further increases in excise duties should be avoided.