AROUND 9,000 additional hotel bedrooms, representing an investment of over £400 million, are planned or currently being built, according to new research. It says that if all hotel expansion plans proceed, the capacity in Dublin alone would add around 80 per cent to current room availability.

The research, contained in a new newsletter published by ICC Bank, says that national capacity would grow by one third overall by the end of 1997. Half of the planned expansion in the hotel sector is for the Dublin region.

"Developments in hotel accommodation have gathered pace over the past two years because of buoyant growth in tourist numbers particularly on the east coast," the publication, Business Insight, says.