Tourism sector wants €12m to soften Brexit hit
In a report, launched yesterday, industry lobby group the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation warned that while UK visitor numbers to Ireland have yet to weaken, they will do and that Irish companies will struggle and jobs will be lost if the State doesn’t help.
Confederation chairman Paul Gallagher said that a 10% drop in UK visitors would result in 6,000 job losses here.
He said three quarters of the €12m should go to marketing Ireland — both in terms of consolidating market share in Britain and increasing business further afield — and the rest to making the tourism industry “battle ready” for Brexit via supports and training services.
As well as the increase in tourism budget, the confederation wants a Brexit business tourism taskforce set up to support and mentor impacted businesses.
Recent research in the UK suggested a 7% drop in the number of British people intending to travel overseas post-Brexit. Of the ones that will still travel, most have indicated they will stay in their destination for less time and spend less money.
The confederation said Brexit poses the biggest threat to the tourism sector since the 2008 global recession. Then, the value of the UK market to Irish tourism fell 23% in a year. While recovered, that has never fully been clawed back.
“The value of the UK’s outbound travel market looks set to take a nosedive,” the confederation said in its report. UK visitors spent €1.3bn in Ireland last year. However, sterling’s post- Brexit vote weakening has led to Ireland becoming 15% more expensive for British visitors.
Confederation chief executive Eoghan O’Mara-Walsh said the call for more funds is not only realistic, but necessary.
However, he said while the Government is listening, it seems not to have fully grasped the seriousness of the situation; effectively blinded by record in-bound visitor numbers last year. Extra funding is needed now, he said, not in a year when “the tables have already turned”.
“The tourism euro is as valuable as the euro earned by any other export sector and more valuable in the context that tourism is one of the few industries that can provide regional balance and sustainable local employment. Diversification cannot happen on its own.
"The State agencies for tourism need to be given the resources to increase traffic and business from Europe and North America,” he said.
Meanwhile, business tourism growth to Cork is being hampered by the lack of a motorway linking the city with Limerick and a dearth of gala venues for events.
A business tourism briefing was jointly held by the Cork Convention Bureau and Fáilte Ireland yesterday. It said Cork generated €11.5m in business tourism revenue last year, but could increase that figure to €50m with the completion of the long-awaited convention centre planned for the city.
“We had 8,500 new delegates come to Cork last year and we believe that figure could treble with a convention centre. We are in serious trouble if it isn’t built,” said Cork Convention Bureau chairman Seamus Heaney.
Its developers believe another €12m in State funding on top of the €20m already granted is needed to make it commercially viable.
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