Some 400 representatives from hotels and guest-houses across the country will gather in Kilkenny today for the Irish Hotels Federation annual conference.
The 2-day event is being held in the Lyrath Estate Hotel and the focus is on ways for those businesses to keep up with the ever-changing tourism and hospitality sector in Ireland.
Speakers will include Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Patrick O’Donovan, former Taoiseach John Bruton and Paul Kelly, Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland.
Figures released by the Irish Hotel Federation ahead of the conference says Irish hotel occupancy rates are at their highest level in 11 years
It says the average national occupancy rate was at 72 percent in 2016.
The positive numbers are being attributed to a record year for overseas visitors to Ireland, at 8.8 million visits.
