27th April 2026 |
Open Consultations
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (hereafter referred to as ‘the Department’) is inviting views to support the development of a new Tourist Accommodation Strategy for Ireland.
This initiative forms part of the commitments outlined in A New Era for Irish Tourism, ensuring that Ireland continues to offer a competitive, high-quality tourism experience.
Tourist accommodation plays a vital role in supporting local economies, community wellbeing, and Ireland’s wider visitor experience. The strategy will guide the future development of both traditional and emerging accommodation models across the country. The strategy will be aimed at supporting regional balance, growth in emerging destinations, encouraging innovation, and ensuring environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Background
The Tourist Accommodation Strategy is being developed to ensure Ireland has a diverse, and future focused mix of accommodation that supports the long-term development of the tourism sector. Key policy aims include:
- Ensuring an adequate and appropriate supply of accommodation to meet evolving visitor needs and support long term growth, particularly in emerging destinations with untapped tourism potential.
- Strengthening regional balance by encouraging investment in emerging destinations and improving the spread of economic benefits.
- Supporting innovation and diversification in accommodation models, including environmentally sustainable options and new formats aligned with changing consumer expectations.
- Aligning development with environmental, social and economic sustainability, ensuring tourist accommodation supports climate commitments, protects natural and cultural assets, and contributes meaningful economic benefits and long‑term wellbeing for local communities.
- Improving sector resilience, informed by recent challenges and the need for adaptable, future proof infrastructure.
- Aligning with EU and international best practice on sustainable tourism development and responsible destination management.
- Developing a tourist accommodation dataset that will assist in the evaluation of policy outcomes flowing from A New Era for Irish Tourism and the Tourist Accommodation Strategy.
Your input will help shape a framework that meets the needs of visitors, businesses, and communities while safeguarding long term sustainability in the sector.
Current and future demand
Ireland’s tourist accommodation offering includes a broad mix of hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs, self‑catering properties, hostels and outdoor accommodation such as pods and glamping. Capacity and availability vary widely across regions, with some destinations facing seasonal or peak‑time pressures while others have significant potential for growth.
The Tourist Accommodation Strategy will consider how supply can best evolve to meet future needs in a sustainable and balanced way – supporting year‑round demand, enabling growth in emerging destinations, ensuring adequate capacity where pressures exist, and aligning with Ireland’s environmental and climate commitments.
Regulatory context
Ireland’s tourist accommodation sector operates within an established regulatory framework led by Fáilte Ireland under the Tourist Traffic Acts 1939-2016, which sets out statutory registration requirements and quality standards for specific accommodation types. This framework is supported by the National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF), through which both statutory and non‑statutory providers are assessed and quality-assured. The Tourist Accommodation Strategy will complement this existing framework and align with wider national policies supporting sustainable tourism.
About this consultation
The Department is seeking the views of the public, industry stakeholders, and all interested parties as your input to the consultation will help inform the direction, priorities, and actions of the final Tourist Accommodation Strategy.
This survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. You may respond to as many or as few questions as you wish and you are encouraged to comment only on the topics most relevant to you. The final question provides an opportunity to share any additional observations you believe should be considered.
How to participate
Views from stakeholders and interested parties are requested no later than 5pm on Friday, 29 May 2026 via the following link:
Tourist Accommodation Survey
Responses received by the specified deadline will be analysed and will contribute to the development of the final strategy. A summary of submissions will be published as part of the consultation process.
If you experience any difficulty accessing or completing the survey, please contact: TourismAccommodation@enterprise.gov.ie
Freedom of information and data protection
Freedom of Information Act 2014 and publication of submissions
The Department will make public on its website all submissions received under this consultation. It is important to note that this includes your name, address, organisation (if relevant) and any other information you provide in your submission, unless you specifically ask us to remove (redact) this information.
Information you provide may also be released if someone makes a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.
If your submission contains personal data, commercially sensitive information, or confidential material that you do not want published or released under an FOI request, please clearly highlight this information and explain why it is sensitive.
The Department will consider your comments when deciding whether to release the information and, where appropriate, will consult with you before making a decision. However, consultation with you does not guarantee that the information will be withheld. All decisions on disclosure under FOI are made in accordance with the law, and information may still be released even if you request otherwise.
Data protection
We handle your personal data in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
This means we will:
- use your information only for the purposes of this consultation,
- keep it secure, and
- respect your data protection rights.
You can find more details about how we use and protect your data in our Privacy Notice on our website at Data Protection Privacy Notice.
Topics:
Tourism