REACTIVE STATEMENT FROM HU ON MEETING WITH DoF MINISTER ARCHIBALD AND DfE OFFICIALS

23 January 2025

Reactive statement from Hospitality Ulster on meeting with Minister of Finance Archibald and Department for the Economy officials.

Colin Neill, Chief Executive, Hospitality Ulster said:

"Having met today with the Minister of Finance Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA and officials from the Department for the Economy, who stood in for Minister Conor Murphy MLA, Hospitality Ulster is compelled to warn that if the hospitality sector is expected to invest its own money to deliver upon the Executive's 10-year tourism action plan, then the Executive must also put funding on the table. Without much-needed support, the action plan could take as long as 20 years to deliver as hospitality businesses are forced to reduce staff or close, depriving Northern Ireland of the tourism infrastructure upon which the action plan is built.

"While we know that finances are tight in all areas, the hospitality industry stands to be especially affected by the forthcoming changes to Employer National Insurance contributions and wage rates due to the fact that we were uniquely affected by the Covid and cost of doing business crises, through which we received no support, unlike our counterparts in Britain and the Republic of Ireland. In this context, the upcoming cost increases will simply be the straws that break the camel's back. The Executive itself is facing a £100 million increase in the National Insurance contributions it pays, but the difference is that this increased cost can be taken down budget; the region's hospitality businesses do not have that luxury.

"Without the delivery of an interim support package for hospitality from the Executive in the short term, and the total overhaul of the business rates system in the long term, and a reduction in the VAT rate for hospitality and exemption from the ETA scheme for NI from Westminster, the Executive's tourism plan will not be worth the paper it is written on. The hospitality sector is fully supportive of the action plan and committed to delivering upon economic growth, a fact that both Minister Archibald and Murphy have acknowledged, but this growth cannot be delivered when conditions are forcing our businesses to contract. Hospitality accounts for four in every five tourism jobs in Northern Ireland; without the delivery of these supports, there will be no tourism growth to speak of."