Ireland ‘must offer quality to boost tourism’

IRELAND is not a cheap holiday destination and cannot compete with other places in regard to prices, Sean Quinn, chief executive of Fáilte Ireland, the recently formed national tourism body, has admitted.

However, he said Ireland could compete on quality, stressing the importance of developing top-class products and attractions to lure visitors. The need to offer value-for-money to boost the flagging €5.1 billion industry has already been highlighted by others, including Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue.

Mr Quinn said low air fares to Ireland were no longer a bonus and were fast becoming the norm so that other countries were also availing of them. In a world in which air travel would continue to become cheaper, tourism here had to build on quality.

“We can compete on quality and the official opening of the Special Olympics showed what can be done and made us proud to be Irish,” he said. “Customers are prepared to pay for quality. We can also be different and come up with ideas and give people experiences in the arts, sports and culture.”

His comments follow a recent controversy about high prices in Ireland - acknowledged by Minister O’Donoghue and studies onto the industry - coming in a season which has been disappointing to date.

Speaking at a black tie banquet during Killarney Summerfest, Mr Quinn said that, until recently, tourism was widely regarded as a success story.

However, after a number of years of a downturn, tourism could not live off that success much longer and, he warned, many of the things that had taken tourism so far were not going to bring it much farther.

“We are going through a third difficult year in a row.

“Everyone in the industry is wondering when the good times are going to roll again. A simple question, but there are no simple answers,” Mr Quinn said.

Competition in the air was making travel more affordable. Getting to Ireland had never been more affordable, but the situation was the same for our competitors.

He told people in the industry, among the 400-plus attendance at the INEC (Irish National Events Centre), Killarney, that Ireland had to be cheaper, better or different, if it wanted to grow as a tourist destination.

“We are not cheap. We can’t compete on price and our cost base has increased,” Mr Quinn said.

He said Ireland had become victim of its own success during the high growth years in the economy and this had led to a high cost base.

Mr Quinn stressed the key issue for Ireland was quality and felt that existing strengths could be built upon, with Summerfest being a good example of a quality product.

“If we could, we would replicate this event (Summerfest) elsewhere. But for that you need a strong team on the ground. In Killarney you have such a team,” he said.