H&R Times explores the impact of Dublin Airport’s passenger cap and short-term letting platforms on Ireland’s hospitality sector
A leading Dublin Hotelier has described Dublin Airport’s passenger cap as “diabolical – disgraceful” and “dire”, claiming it sends the message that Ireland is “closed for business”. Jonas Treffers, General Manager of the 4 Star Aloft Dublin City, said the cap of 32 million travellers a year (put in place in 2007 as part of planning permission for the airport’s second terminal) is “effectively saying to people ‘You can’t come to our country’. We are shooting ourselves in the foot.”
According to data from DAA, passengers through Dublin Airport in March 2025 declined 3% versus the same month in 2024: a fall of 83,000 to 2.54 million passengers. A late Easter and the closure of Heathrow Airport played a factor but the cap is also to blame, Sarah Ryan, director of communications at DAA, told Hotel & Restaurant Times. “Passenger numbers for the past four months at Dublin Airport have been either flat or down versus last year and that is because of the cap,” she said.
“Passenger numbers for the past four months at Dublin Airport have been either flat or down versus last year and that is because of the cap,” Sarah Ryan, director of communications at DAA
Stalled Growth and Lost Revenue for the Hospitality Sector
DAA data reveals Dublin has fallen to 16th place in Europe’s most efficient European cities for passenger capacity and connectivity – behind places such as Vienna, Milan and Zurich. While other airports around the UK and Ireland are ramping up expansion and critical infrastructure, Dublin is stagnating, added Kenny Jacobs, DAA CEO: “While Cork Airport surges, Dublin is stalled by the passenger cap and slow planning”. The cap undermines efforts from tourist authorities to bring people to Ireland, believe campaigners. The national tourism policy strategy targeted 5.6% annual revenue growth from overseas visitors before 2030 – an unlikely ambition due to the cap.
A spokesperson for the Irish Hotels Federation told H&R Times: “The passenger cap is a major barrier to further recovery and growth of our industry. The uncertainty it is causing among airlines is now spilling over into tourism and impacting passenger numbers. Ultimately, it could have serious negative consequences for our ability to develop new routes and increase air access into the country, which would be to the long-term detriment of our industry. This issue needs to be addressed urgently.”
Less supply leads to higher fares, remarked Jonas. “If the sentiment is ‘Ireland is Closed for Business’, that is a worry. Because very quickly, an airline will say, ‘I’m not flying to Dublin, I’m flying to Frankfurt, London, wherever.” There have been calls to raise the cap from 32m to at least 36m – a four million shortfall represents a considerable loss of business for hoteliers. “It’s not as if we are Venice or Amsterdam and we are overshot with tourists,” said Jonas. “There is demand here in Dublin for 36 million passengers. The average American traveller spends a couple of thousand while here: that is a lot of lost revenue.”
Planning Gridlock: The Bureaucratic Maze Facing DAA
An Bord Pleanála initiated the cap in 2007 in an effort to ease worries about traffic jams on roads leading to Dublin Airport. “They thought too many people would drive in their own cars to the airport [and the roads would get congested],” said Jonas. “But more people take public transport buses now to the airport.”
In 2023, DAA lodged a planning application seeking permission to grow the airport to 40m passengers a year and invest €2 billion in infrastructure and sustainability projects. “We need those if we are to cater for 40 million passengers a year because we need new piers and stands,” said Sarah. DAA has since lodged a “no-build application” to increase passenger numbers to 36m while waiting for their 2023 application to be approved.
However, DAA have become entangled in a bureaucratic quagmire. Fingal County Council requires DAA to submit information to the noise regulator, ANCA, in order to proceed with the application. But DAA is unable to submit information to ANCA as they are waiting on An Bord Pleanála to make a decision about another planning application that would impact noise levels at the airport. “This is why DAA often refers to the whole planning situation as snakes and ladders,” explained Sarah. “It’s incredibly complex with all sorts of roadblocks. It is our view that our national airport is too important to be treated this way.”
Temporary Relief: Legal Challenges and Government Support
Irish hospitality is off the hook over this summer 2025, however, after the High Court temporarily suspended the cap pending the outcome of legal challenges taken by Aer Lingus and Ryanair. This is not a permanent solution. “Ireland’s planning model, continues Sarah Ryan, is broken”. “The UK government has been very overt in backing airport expansion and they’ve made changes to their planning regime to fast-track major infrastructure development, so we see some good examples elsewhere of things Ireland could look at.”
Jonas Treffers also calls for changes to the planning system.
“People have rights but for a country to be held to ransom by a local County Council – and for that to impact the economy and jobs – is fundamentally wrong.” Jonas Treffers, General Manager of the 4 Star Aloft Dublin City
“If you buy a house close to the airport, you should know that you’re going to hear airplanes flying over your house. The government should put a red line through the planning application and say, ‘That’s done: fixed’.”
Ireland’s Taoiseach and Minister for Transport have both reiterated their support for the repeal of the passenger cap. The North Runway at Dublin Airport, built at a cost of €320m, allows for the DAA’s proposed expansion of the cap to 40m passengers. However, DAA believe, at the current rate of progress, we are unlikely to see any changes in planning until 2030 – by which point the airport will be “bursting at the seams”.
Jonas, meanwhile, decries the notion that regional airports can pick up the slack. “It’s a false economy to suggest passengers will just fly into Cork,” he said. “Regional airports have a part to play, absolutely, but if you’re a business traveller you’re not going to fly to Kerry then take the train to have a meeting in Dublin and then drive back to Kerry to take your plane.”
Short-Term Letting Platforms and the Challenge to Hotels
Jonas Treffers also called out the poorly regulated nature of short-term letting platforms for impeding the progress of hospitality businesses in the capital. Platforms such as Airbnb have been accused of disrupting the availability of housing and rental accommodation as well as the hotel market. According to insideairbnb.com – an advocacy project that provides data about Airbnb’s impact on residential communities – there are 6,481 Airbnb listings in County Dublin, 55.4% (3,588) of which are entire properties. On Dafte.ie, Ireland’s biggest real estate website, there are only 1,892 properties listed for the same region.
The Dáil has been processing the Short Term Tourist Letting Bill, which will require anyone renting out a property for up to 21 nights (a year???) to register with Fáilte Ireland. However, Jonas believes this legislation, aligned with an EU policy on Short Term Rental (STR) Regulation, still puts hotels at a competitive disadvantage.
“Registering a property with Fáilte Ireland is one thing but how is it inspected and enforced? Individually-owned hotels with a large square footage might have invested tens of thousands of euros per bedroom and enovate continuously. I can understand how they might be peeved when somebody comes onto the market, unregulated, and steals their business away. It’s not only Airbnb. It’s also unregulated buildings that are quote-unquote hotels. A number of Student Accommodation Blocks sub-let or directly operate as an Airbnb providing bulk accommodation alternatives where there is no additional service at all available. The difficulty that Ireland faces from a hotel perspective is this: what classifies a hotel to be a hotel?”
The IHF welcomed “legislative moves by the government to put in place robust regulation of short-term letting, including the creation of a register,” a spokesperson told H&R Times. “We are not in a position at this stage to determine the impact of unregistered short-term letting on the industry. Our position is that there should be a level playing field in terms of taxation,
commercial rates and other regulations, which should apply equally to all tourism accommodation providers.
Tourism Data Disputes and the Bigger Picture
” If visitors are being lured to short-term letting platforms over traditional hotels, is the passenger cap turning people off Irish vacations entirely? CSO data might suggest this is the case. According to CSO, there was a 30% decline in foreign visitors to Ireland in February 2025 over the same period in 2024. This represents 304,300 fewer visitors and a €196m reduction in visitor spend. CSO also claimed bed nights had fallen 33% (representing 1.8m fewer visitors).
This data was subsequently disputed by Tourism Ireland, The Restaurants Association of Ireland and other groups. The CSO defended its findings, saying it was “collected according to a consistent and robust methodology which has been independently reviewed.”
“The CSO figures were not correct,” said Jonas Treffers. “Occupancy levels in hotels are not 30% down. If 30% fewer people came in a one-month period, the hotels and visitor attractions would be screaming. My February would be shocking. But my February was actually quite good.” While bed nights may have only partially reduced, he added, the passenger cap at Dublin Airport and the undefined nature of short-term letting platforms removes any chance for further growth.
