Hoteliers call for new 'tourism tsar'

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has called on Tourism Minister Mary Hanafin to appoint a dedicated 'tourism tsar' to spearhead Ireland’s tourism marketing strategy in Britain.

The IHF said Ireland had seen a "catastrophic" drop in visitors from Britain since 2008, down by more than 30%.

IHF president Paul Gallagher said: "The British market is in freefall. Despite substantial investment in marketing Ireland to Britain, visitor numbers have fallen off a cliff.

"In terms of marketing, Ireland is clearly doing something wrong if we’re losing visitors from Britain at double the rate of our European competitors.

"Plain and simple, there has been a disastrous failure to re-energise the British market and get the message out that Ireland has tremendous value to offer as a holiday destination."