Debate contribution: Hospitality and Tourism: Town Centres
Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on .
- MLA
- Dr Caoimhe Archibald
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Hospitality and Tourism: Town Centres
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5685559
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for that question. She will be aware — as, I know, all Members will be — of some of the particular challenges that face our hospitality and tourism sectors, not least of which is, of course, the VAT differentials that are now in place across the island and have widened over the course of recent months. We have collectively been making the case around that, and I and the Finance Minister have been engaging with Treasury in support of Hospitality Ulster and other bodies that have been leading that campaign. I think that there is a really strong case for what we are proposing. I know that it has the support of hospitality businesses across Britain, and the British Government should pursue that. I have raised that with the new Secretary of State. I have also made the case that we need to look at what other things the British Government can do to support our hospitality sector, because, at the end of the day, they hold the levers that will have the most impact. From my perspective, one thing that I can do to support the hospitality and tourism sector is invest in skills. We have been working with the hospitality sector on a skills plan for hospitality, and we are looking at other measures such as, for example, the aviation policy, which is another one that will help support our tourism sector. We also have the tourism vision and action plan, in which the aviation policy is one of the actions. We have a number of pieces of work that, collectively, are designed to support our tourism and hospitality sector, but, as I say, if we could all keep the focus on the VAT ask, that could be a shared priority that could potentially deliver for our hospitality businesses.
305 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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