2 March 2016
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The Irish Hotels Federation represent Hotels in Ireland. Today’s figures come from Hotels.com, which is a website allowing customers to compare prices and book hotels in Ireland and abroad.
Cork
Hotel rooms in Cork rose in price by 11% in 2015 according to the latest Hotels.com Hotel Price IndexTM (HPI). The average room rate paid for the full year of 2015 was €103 which is €15 below the national average of €118.
The HPI is a regular survey of hotel prices in major destinations across the world. The HPI is based on bookings made on Hotels.com and prices shown are those actually paid* by customers around the world (rather than advertised rates) in 2015 compared to 2014.
As a whole it was a positive year for Irish tourism as hotel prices rose 15% in 2015 to an average of €118. This is the fifth year that Irish hotel prices have increased indicating that the tourism industry is continuing to recover from years of steep decline. Despite this latest rise, Ireland still offers great value for both domestic and international travellers.
Increased consumer confidence, a record year for visitor numbers to Ireland and events based tourism all contributed to the recovery of hotel prices around Ireland. According to figures released by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, the number of overseas visitor to Ireland grew by 14% in 2015.
Focus on the rest of Ireland
In Dublin hotel prices went up by 20% in 2015. The average room rate was €129 making it the place where visitors paid the most last year. As well as playing host to large scale conferences such as the Web Summit which attracted some 30,000 people to Dublin, the city also benefited from a new tourism and marketing campaign aimed at attracting overseas visitors.
Room rates in Belfast rose by 23% year-on-year to an average of €123 per night while prices in Derry were up 16% to €98 on average. These increases can be in part attributed to the strong performance of sterling against the euro last year.
Kilkenny prices increased by 4% to €103 per night while the tourist town of Killarney saw a rise of 8% to an average of €119. Given its popularity with domestic and overseas visitors and its wealth of four- and five-star accommodation, Killarney’s hotel rates have remained robust over the last number of years and are now in line with the national average.
Waterford was the best value destination featured in the HPI. While prices increased by 6%, the average rate was €84, well below the national average. Limerick, Ireland’s most affordable destination last year, came a close second at €85 despite seeing its price go up by 11% year-on-year.
