Galway will make itself the “laughing stock of the country” if it introduces a tourist tax, Supermac’s owner Pat McDonagh has claimed.

Galway City Council is considering a pilot scheme in which visitors would pay a small fee every night they stay in the city. 

The funds would then be used to upgrade the local facilities and infrastructure that tourists and locals alike depend upon.

The idea has taken off in many European cities in recent years as many tourist hotspots struggle with the cost of welcoming large numbers of visitors every summer. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Supermacs founder Pat McDonagh described it as a “ridiculous idea” for the Galway City Council to consider. 

“We would be the laughing stock of the country if we introduced a tourist tax,” he said. 

“Our tourism this year is way below what it was even last year.”

Roundstone Pier in Connemara, Co Galway, 26-8-21. Image: Eamonn Farrell/Rolling News.ie

Mr McDonagh said he is concerned that a tourist tax would only discourage people from visiting the region.

“Even the mention of a tourist tax is enough to send people AWOL because Galway City, the thing it needs most is a bypass,” he said. 

“The council and the council officials should be coming together to try and sort out a bypass for Galway City because that’s the thing it needs most. 

“It’s preventing shoppers from going in there, it’s preventing business from operating in Galway and it’s preventing tourism probably as well.”

Declining numbers

Yesterday, Fáilte Ireland published its Tourism Barometer survey, warning that visitor numbers around the country are lower this year than in 2023.

It is a trend that Mr McDonagh believes has certainly impacted businesses in the West of Ireland. 

“Galway, for the first time, in my memory, didn’t fill their hotels for the early part of race season this year,” he said. 

“We’re not overrun by tourists by any means - 80% of tourists fly into Dublin. 

“15% of continental tour operators this year cancelled their tours because they couldn’t fill them. 

“We’ve become a very expensive country for tourism and for living as a whole - so, if we introduce another tax, that’s going to add to the whole situation.” 

According to Fáilte Ireland, tourism is now worth €3 billion to the Wild Atlantic Way region that includes Galway City - up 58% in a decade.

Main image: Pat McDonagh. Picture by: David Maher/Sportsfile