The number of visitors from Britain has fallen by as many as a Million visits since 2007 when 3.7 Million trips from Britain to Ireland were recorded.
Six short years ago Ireland was a very different place. The ‘Celtic Tiger’ still stalked the land although his days were numbered. A property market collapse and financial ruin were just around the corner. Britain suffered its own recession too but was spared the carnage caused by the banks that Ireland suffered. Against this backdrop it is perhaps no surprise that visitors from our closest neighbour have decided to opt for sunnier climes.
The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) are doing everything they can to reverse the trend but are not helped by the high costs they face in running their businesses. Commercial Rates are effectively an extra big tax on their income. Many Hotels are also suffering negative equity in respect of the development of their Hotel property after the market collapsed in 2008. Consequently Hotel rates in 2012 were at their highest level since 2008 according to a Hotels.com survey.
Killarney at 101 euro per night was listed as the most expensive destination for Hotel rooms where the country averaged 90 euro per night. Irish Hoteliers are not at all happy with the survey though, claiming that the cost of rooms has been greatly reduced in recent years despite persistently high costs and that Ireland compares favourably to most other popular European destinations.
Tourism is vitally important to the Irish economy accounting for 5.3 Billion Euro in revenue and employing 11% of the entire workforce of the country.
by Michael Green
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Michael Green is Manager of The Information about Ireland Site
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Re your remarks about Irish Tourism, the following is a copy of an email I sent to laoistourism@gmail.com in January to which they have never even replied:
Hi,
If you put Cadogan Guides to Ireland Portlaoise into Google or buy a copy of Cadogan Guides you will read what 1,000s of potential tourists are reading in the Cadogan Guides to Ireland and I quote:
“Co.Laois: The county town is Portlaoise, which has nothing much to recommend it, except that it is an important rail junction. It has a certain notoriety, as there is a well known prison in the neighbourhood.” End of quote.
No wonder mainstream tourism is lost to Portlaoise. Nothing much to recommend it! How derogatory can you get? What an awful thing to say about a town! I was so annoyed when I read it and wondered why Laois Tourism does not SHOUT ALOUD FROM THE ROOFTOPS THAT PORTLAOISE IS THE BIRTHPLACE OF AVIATION IN IRELAND!!!
THE FIRST AEROPLANE EVER TO BE MANUFACTURED AND FLOWN IN IRELAND WAS MADE IN PORTLAOISE (OR MARYBOROUGH AS IT WAS IN 1912) AT ALDRITTS AND FLOWN OVER THE GREAT HEATH OF MARYBOROUGH! See The Nationalist 10th July 2012.
The Birthplace of Aviation in Ireland. Surely this fact should be proudly publicized and special efforts made to
strenuously promote it even to the extent of restoring the actual record-breaking aircraft which is in a museum in East Sussex (alternatively a replica Flying Machine could be erected in the Market Square) to become a showpiece for tourists and townspeople alike. A magnificent reminder of what was achieved in Portlaoise and surely it would prove a source of inspiration for the future. One thing is certain, it would negate that dreaded entry in the Cadogan Guides.
As a Portlaoise man I sincerely hope measures will be adopted to right this wrong.
That email, Michael, was sent on 24 Jan 2013, so far no reply.