Fáilte Ireland has said that it wants to see tourism accommodation being used for Ukrainian refugees come back into the tourism market “as quickly as it can” to help ease sector-wide shortages.
It comes as the Government signed off on new legislation for short-term rentals that could take 12,000 properties out of the tourism stock.
The proposal was brought forward by Tourism Minister Catherine Martin.
Suppliers offering accommodation for periods of up to and including 21 nights will now be required to be registered with Fáilte Ireland.
When the properties are registered, a list will be shared with the local authorities and they will assess whether appropriate planning permission that allows landlords to rent our properties is in place.
Properties in towns or cities could then be put on the long-term rental market. This could free up 12,000 homes.
Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly said on Wednesday that the new requirement to register properties will lead to a drop in available tourist accommodation. However, he acknowledged that the changes were needed due to the housing crisis.
He said that the shortage in accommodation is the “biggest challenge” facing the sector.
Mr Kelly also said the sector is under pressure due to the number of Ukrainian refugees staying in hotels.
He called on the Government to put other accommodation in place to ease supply.
“There is no doubt that the availability of accommodation from a tourism point of view is a major concern for everyone involved in tourism,” he said.
“The humanitarian response of the Government has taken a very significant proportion of the accommodation stock out of the tourism sector.
“The availability of accommodation stock is probably the biggest challenge to the tourism sector next year. We are very concerned about it.
“We're going to be trying to work through it.
“We know Government are working to try and find as many alternative places for accommodation for humanitarian needs as possible.
“That is really important work.
“We do want to see as much of the tourism accommodation come back into tourism as quickly as it can.”
Minister Martin acknowledged that there are “significant concerns” and this has been passed on to the Department of Integration.
She said that work is underway to build modular homes and to place people in pledged homes to take pressure off the hotel system.
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