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Majority of tourism businesses 'seriously concerned' about impact of Trump policies

Tourism businesses in Ireland have expressed serious concern about the impact of Donald Trump's trade policies on the sector as more than half have experienced a drop of revenue during the first four months of 2025, according to a new report by Fáilte Ireland. It revealed that the US president and the global economy was the main concern of businesses in the tourism industry and cited by 60 per cent of all respondents ahead of other concerns including rising costs, the VAT rate and staffing issues. The survey commissioned by the national tourism development authority found that 51 per cent of businesses have recorded a fall in income so far in 2025 with 23 per cent saying revenue is largely unchanged. Advertisement Only 26 per cent of businesses have reported an increase in income, according to the findings of the latest 'tourism barometer' report by Fáilte Ireland. The report, which surveyed the views of 834 tourism businesses including 282 accommodation providers at the end of April, said President Trump's economic policies have 'raised the industry's challenges to a new level.' It found revenue was down across every sector and region generally including 74 per cent of B&Bs, 62 per cent of self-catering accommodation providers, 58 per cent of restaurants, bars and other food and drink businesses and 56 per cent of tour guides. The report found respondents attributed the dip in performance to a lack of disposable income among consumers combined with a lack of affordable tourist accommodation. Advertisement However, they claimed the situation has been compounded by the global economic uncertainty which has arisen from the economic policies of Trump. Businesses across various sectors in the tourism industry said this has led to some cancellations of trips by US tourists and a lack of forward booking from them due to concerns about their income as well as how they are perceived abroad. Fáilte Ireland warned that the tourism industry's reliance on the North American market 'may be an exposure' and that tourism businesses in Ireland are now feeling the effects of levels of business from US tourists slipping back. It claimed many respondents felt the full impact of such a trend would only be felt in 2026. Advertisement However, Fáilte Ireland said the findings of the latest survey need to be placed in the context that 2024 was a strong year for Irish tourism including a 15 per cent increase in spending by domestic tourists and a 9 per cent increase in spending by overseas visitors. It claimed such strong results may have raised expectations for this year, although the results of the first quarter of 2025 have been 'relatively weak' due to a number of factors including bad weather and a reduction in air access during the winter season due to the cap on passenger numbers at Dublin Airport. Fáilte Ireland accepted that there has been a flat start to the current year across a range of performance indicators including air access capacity, hotel occupancy, flight searches for Ireland all relatively unchanged on 2024 levels. At the same time, it stressed that overall demand from all sectors was not as weak as some information sources suggest. Advertisement Some tourism representative groups have questioned figures published by the Central Statistics Office which stated the number of overseas visitors was down 18 per cent in the first four months of 2025, claiming they did not reflect business levels experienced within the industry. Fáilte Ireland acknowledged that business sentiment was more negative for some tourism service providers than performance indicators would suggest. However, it claimed such a trend could be due to elevated expectations from last year's strong outturn and a run of 'bad news' including ongoing cost pressures, the cap on passengers at Dublin Airport, a flurry of last-minute cancellations due to storms in January as well as international trade tensions and downgraded economic forecasts. Fáilte Ireland said there were still plenty of positives for Irish tourism including a 7 per cent increase in air access during the summer season which it claimed was often the best predictor of inbound tourism demand. Advertisement Ireland Over 300,000 people attend events in Dublin city l... Read More Despite the slow start to the year, the report shows that 26 per cent of businesses said income will be ahead of last year with another 30 per cent predicting it will be on a par with revenue levels in 2024. It found that some tourism service providers have managed to grow their revenue so far in 2025 including 38 per cent of hotels and 36 per cent of activity providers. However, many businesses, particularly hotels, attractions and activity providers, feel reliant on domestic holidaymakers claiming they offer the best hope this year and claim a summer of fine weather would really help. The report said challenging market conditions were being experienced across the whole country including in Dublin which often performs better than the other regions.