Businesses warned of tough year for tourism

Ireland's tourism-related businesses were warned today by the country’s top tourism bodies that conditions could be difficult this year.

This comes as figures for 2007 show that overseas visitors to Ireland rose by 9% in comparison to 2006.

However, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland both warned businesses that global economic uncertainty could make for a difficult year ahead.

Despite this, Tourism Ireland intends to invest €5m on marketing campaigns with regional and industry partners overseas.

Fáilte Ireland South West, the body responsible for developing tourism in the Cork/Kerry region and Tourism Ireland, today outlined its plans for developing tourism in the Cork/Kerry region this year.

Shaun Quinn, chief executive of Fáilte Ireland said: “We cannot ignore the potential impact stock market volatility and exchange rate movements on our business but it is much too early to speculate on any impact at this stage.”

“We can only strive to offer the very best value we can and make every effort to minimise costs without compromising on quality.”

Meanwhile, Tourism Ireland chief executive Paul O’Toole, said overseas tourism contributed an estimated €2.4bn in revenue to regions outside Dublin in 2007 — representing 67% of the total revenue generated from overseas tourism. However, he also spoke with caution.

“Global economic uncertainty, the weak dollar and a softening in consumer confidence generally all make for a more difficult business environment,” said Mr O’Toole.

“It will be more important than ever that our tourism product and service is top class and, above all, that the consumer gets good value for money,” he added.

Fáilte Ireland also announced today that it will focus on increasing overseas business by launching their biggest ever ‘Discover Ireland’ campaign, which aims to encourage Irish people to take a break at home.

Published courtesy of The Evening Echo