Good News Story

We were delighted to welcome guest speaker Janice Gault, CEO, NI Hotels Federation which represents the hospitality sector in NI to the Club Monday 15 April, she is pictured here with President Elect Karen Blair and Club member Eileen Kennedyin. In her well received address she gave an illuminating "good news story" of hotel availability throughout NI and the growth of the sector since 1968. She highlighted the dramatic growth over the last 20 years and the significant contribution of the sector to the economy with annual turnover now £500m and 10,000 jobs. She pointed out that there have been 9 new hotel openings since 2016 plus expansions to some established hotels with an £500m plus investment in construction and 1,000 additional jobs. In 2018 there were 3.5m rooms available with 50% less than 15 years old and occupancy of 77.6%. The forecast for 2019 is for more rooms to be available but occupancy to drop to 71%.