Tourists find value for money in Ireland
According to the latest Fáilte Ireland Ireland Visitor Attitudes Survey, Ireland’s satisfaction levels among visitors continues to improve with 54% of tourists saying they found good or very good value for money here — up from 51% in 2014.
This is a huge improvement on the Celtic Tiger years. For example, while last year only 6% of visitors found value for money to be poor or very poor, in 2007 this figure was 41%.
When asked about their overall opinion of an Irish holiday, 55% of respondents said their trip met all expectations, while a further 44% said their holiday exceeded all expectations.
The top reasons for their holiday being better than they imagined were the Irish people (67%), scenery (59%), history/culture (38%), the weather being better than expected (36%), and food (26%).
When holidaymakers were asked what word they would use to describe their stay, the most popular across all main markets was “relaxed”. This was followed by “refreshed” — felt more by the French and Germans than North Americans.
“Stimulated” was the word many North Americans chose and this was also mentioned by visitors from other parts of the world. The Germans also felt “excited” and “exhausted”, while the French were more likely to mention “calm” and the British “rejuvenated”.
Almost six in 10 (57%) said they would definitely return to Ireland within the next few years — almost half of these within the next year. A further 39% hoped to return at some time in the future.
On their return, seven out of 10 (69%) gave the highest possible endorsement, saying they would definitely recommend an Irish holiday to friends and family, rising to more than eight out of 10 (81%) for North Americans.
Commenting on the survey results, Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe said it was “very encouraging” that visitors were getting good value for money.
“Improving visitor satisfaction is a key part of our recently launched tourism policy and this data confirms that we are doing the right things — playing to our greatest strengths while remaining a competitive and attractive destination,” he said. “However, it is imperative that we stay on track and maintain that winning balance of value and quality.”
The Fáilte Ireland research comes as the tourism industry prepares for Ireland’s largest travel trade workshop — Meitheal — in the RDS in Dublin today.
Now in its 40th year, this year’s event will welcome 277 of the world’s top travel and tourism buyers to engage directly with 500 Irish tourism businesses.
€1.2bn spent abroad as foreign trips rise 10%
Irish residents spent almost €1.2bn on foreign trips in the last three months of 2014.
More than 1.5m trips abroad were undertaken by Irish residents from October to the end of December, up 9.7% over the same period in 2103, data from the Central Statistics Office show.
The Household Travel Survey reveals that the UK remains the most popular destination in terms of the number of trips abroad taken, followed by Spain and France.
Of the €1.2bn spent on outbound trips in the last three months of 2014, €661m was spent on holidays, €244m on visiting friends or relatives, and €204m on business trips.
The CSO also said that Irish residents took 1.65m domestic trips in the fourth quarter, up 6% compared to the same period in 2013.
For 2014 as a whole, Irish residents took 7.4m domestic trips, resulting in 21.2m bed nights.
Total expenditure on these trips amounted to €1.46bn.
