Sir, – Irish Hotels Federation chief executive Paul Gallagher’s alarm (“Tourist tax would make Ireland less attractive as a destination,” Letters, March 25th) at the prospect of a modest tourist tax for visitors to Dublin would be more persuasive were it not so at odds with the experience of travellers across Europe.
Many Irish people who visit cities such as Paris, Rome or Barcelona pay tourist taxes as a matter of course, barely noticing them and certainly not reconsidering their trip because of them. The idea that a similar charge in Dublin would deter visitors seems, frankly, far-fetched.
Gallagher’s argument that a tourist tax would constitute “double taxation” for property tax-paying domestic visitors also stretches credibility. Most Irish residents choosing to stay in hotels in their own capital are engaging in discretionary spending, albeit often in very expensively priced rooms offered by Gallagher’s colleagues.
The chief executive’s framing of the measure as an additional burden on the hotel sector is likewise misleading. It is a proposed tax on tourists, not on hotels. If anything, the real risk to Dublin’s appeal lies not in a small, transparent tourist charge, but in failing to invest adequately in the city’s infrastructure, cleanliness and public realm.
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A well-designed levy, visibly reinvested, could support rather than undermine the visitor experience. And more importantly, it could provide tangible benefits for the people who actually live and work in Dublin. – Yours, etc,
SÉAMUS WHITE,
Stoneybatter,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – Paul Gallagher, CEO of the Irish Hotels Federation, without a trace of self-awareness uses the high nightly price of a hotel room in Dublin as an argument against a tourist tax. Even the hoteliers’ federation thinks room prices are too high. – Yours, etc,
SHANE FITZPATRICK,
Dublin 7.
