Sinn Féin has called for a tourist tax to be levied on visitors who stay in hotels in Galway City. The party said Galway City Council could raise €1.7 million in revenue per annum if it were allowed to impose a hotel bedroom levy.

Its Local Election candidate in City Central, Mark Lohan, said it would be a sensible revenue raising measure, with the proceeds earmarked for better services for visitors and locals.

He said a tourist tax was a concept common in Europe and America and could be replicated here.

“It makes sense that a city like Galway examines how this tax would be applied and how it could benefit the city and its residents,” the former City Councillor said.

The City Council’s Corporate Policy Group previously considered the possibility of introducing a ‘hotel bed tax’ or ‘visitor’ levy on tourists staying in Galway.

Based on bed-occupancy information provided by Fáilte Ireland, the report said a €2 per room tax would’ve netted €1.6m in 2017 and 2018.

A room rate with a bed levy of 2% would bring in an estimated income of €1.9m to the Council based on 2018 occupancy.

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