South-East tourism body consigned to history

A TOURISM body which has done Trojan work to promote Waterford and the South-East for the past 40 years, particularly during last year’s Tall Ships Race, is no more.

After serving the needs of tourism in the South East region since 1964, the South East Regional Tourism Authority has now consigned itself to history.

Members attending an Extraordinary General Meeting of the company endorsed the unanimous recommendation of their regional board of management and voted decisively to transfer all tourism operations to Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism development authority.

They represented some 1,250 affiliated tourism operators and businesses from Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford, all subscribers to the regional tourism authority which was established in the first act of State decentralisation in Ireland.

The change-over will also involve all 40 staff currently employed by South East Tourism. It is scheduled to come into effect in July.

The South East becomes the first of the country’s five Regional Tourism Authorities to formally adopt the new structures for Irish tourism already approved by the Fáilte Ireland Authority and by Government. That follows the industry’s enthusiastic adoption of the recommendations of the national Tourism Policy Review Group chaired by John Travers.

Commenting on the EGM decision, Pat Crotty, chairman of South East Tourism said: “We can now look forward to expanding the range of our support services to tourism businesses and to our visitors and playing a greater role in developing all aspects of tourism in the South East region.”

Mr Crotty addressed the members at the EGM and told them the transfer would bring an end to what he termed the ‘hand to mouth’ existence of the regional tourism authorities. This had seriously inhibited their capacity to serve the needs of an industry which was now firmly established as Ireland’s most important indigenous commercial sector.

“The review had highlighted the constraints imposed on the regional agencies by virtue of their inadequate funding resources,” he said.

Throughout his years of service on the board, he had championed the case to Fáilte Ireland, and previously to Bord Fáilte, that the core establishment costs of regional tourism should be carried by the State.

He emphasised the importance of retaining strong links with the industry at local level and said this was the only matter of significant concern at this time.

While accepting that new Regional Tourism Development Boards were about to be appointed, he urged Fáilte Ireland to give urgent consideration to establishing a common structure at county level so that the grass roots of Irish tourism could continue to be involved.

The outgoing chief executive of South East Tourism, Joe Palmer, shortly to become first general manager South East of Fáilte Ireland, said he looked forward to the challenge of leading the continued growth of tourism.

He paid special tribute to all who had contributed to the industry’s development in their capacity as directors of South East Tourism over almost five decades of service to the industry.

“We are entering an exciting new era for tourism in this region and we hope every sector will benefit as a result of these innovative changes,” he added.

Tourism is one of the key growth sectors in the South East region and is estimated to support 17,500 jobs in the regional economy with overall earnings approaching €450 million.