Tourism chiefs eye lucrative Chinese market

Up to 50,000 Chinese tourists could visit Ireland annually within the next four years, industry chiefs claimed today.

Tourism Ireland Chief Executive Paul O’Toole said the Chinese travel market holds excellent potential for Ireland.

The head of the organisation, which is responsible for marketing Ireland overseas, is currently part of the nation’s major trade mission to China.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is to address 160 top travel and tourism industry contacts from across China at events in Beijing and Shanghai during the trip.

Mr Ahern will also announce the appointment of Tourism Ireland’s new dedicated representative in China.

Mr O’Toole said raising the number of visitors to Ireland to 50,000 has the potential to be highly lucrative for the tourism sector as Chinese visitors are the largest per capita shoppers of any source country.

Based on total expenditure statistics it is estimated that the average outbound Chinese traveller spends €5,700 per visit, he said.

“In 2000, the number of outbound Chinese visitors reached 16 million and the World Tourism Organisation forecasts that China will become one of the top three outbound tourism markets in the world in less than 20 years,” he said.

“Tourism Ireland is placing the island of Ireland on the map for this burgeoning new market.

“We have accelerated marketing activities in the area and will be announcing the appointment of our new representative in China this week.”

Mr O’Toole said the organisation has already launched a website and produced new brochures, both in Mandarin and Cantonese, and has also hosted a number of press visits to the island of Ireland for journalists from Hong Kong and Mainland China.

“Ireland has been accorded ‘Approved Destination Status’ as a result of an agreement concluded by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O’Donoghue, with the Chinese tourism administration earlier this year,” he said.

“This agreement gives us the opportunity to develop the potential of this market of 1.3 billion and its rapidly expanding economy.

“Given this huge and diverse market, it is critical for us to target precisely those segments that will yield the strongest results.

“The key is to reach long-haul leisure travellers with sufficient disposable incomes to travel to Ireland,” he added.

A record 16.6 million Chinese travelled overseas in 2003, a fivefold increase over the previous 10 years.

China now boasts more outbound international travellers than Japan.