Every summer the Irish pub already creates 12,000 seasonal jobs VFI research outlines how an additional 5,000 seasonal jobs are expected to be created this summer.

This means a total of 17,000 jobs are set to be created this summer Rising tourism numbers are generating this seasonal employment Publicans at the 2016 VFI AGM call for new Government to prioritise reduction in excise duty to benefit rising numbers of tourists.

New research unveiled at the 43rd Vintners’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) AGM taking place in Wexford Town has revealed that pubs in traditional tourist areas, which account for 2,500 of the 4,000 VFI pubs, will create an additional 5,000* seasonal jobs this summer.

This represents a significant increase on the 12,000* seasonal jobs the pub already creates each year. The research means that in total, the Irish pub will employ 17,000 additional seasonal staff during the busy summer months.

The increase is solely attributed to the expected significant rise in overseas and domestic tourism numbers this summer with CSO figures outlining a 16{c2b5dfb9b5f0deab13e85e7181b8d8b78f4b8d992d6f0287b77274cf9797a92b} increase in visitor numbers for the first three months of 2016.

Newly appointed President of the VFI Pat Crotty commented; “The creation of these additional seasonal jobs is tremendous news for our economy and is clear evidence that the tourism industry is thriving. The demand for additional seasonal staff to accommodate rising tourism numbers only highlights how popular the pub is amongst visitors to Ireland.”

Meanwhile over 400 publicans attending the VFI AGM today called on the new Government to focus on reducing current levels of excise, in order to make Ireland more competitive with European countries in the tourism market.

Pat Crotty continued; “While tourism is on the up there are many external and some internal issues that could dampen the growth. We must try to control the controllables and the high level of excise is one of the main ones. Ireland already has one of the highest levels of excise in the EU and we need to make the country less expensive for tourists. It is important to point out that it is not just our ranking in the European excise table that counts – it is how far we are ahead of others that is the real problem. For example – The excise on beer is 10 times in Ireland what it is in Spain or Portugal.”