FG: Summer tourist season is a bust

IRELAND’S summer tourist season has been labelled “a bust” as latest figures show the numbers visiting the country in May are down by almost 150,000.

According to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the numbers visiting Ireland were down over 18% for May when compared to the same month last year.

One of the main reasons for the slump is the collapse in the numbers visiting from Britain, Ireland’s biggest tourist market.

The numbers visiting from across the Irish Sea dropped more than 22% in May compared to the same period in 2008, a drop of over 90,000 visitors.

In the first five months of this year, the numbers visiting from abroad are down by almost 10% while the numbers of Irish people travelling is also down in the region of 10%. Overall, in the year to May there were more than 250,000 fewer visitors to Ireland in 2009 compared to 2008.

Fine Gael spokeswoman on tourism Olivia Mitchell said the figures bear out what is being widely reported within the industry.

“The worst fears of all those working in the tourism industry have been realised, the summer season is a bust. The British collapse is particularly worrying. A 150,000 drop in visitors, with 90,000 of these from Britain, in what is supposed to be the beginning of the summer season, is nothing short of catastrophic,” she said.

Ms Mitchell accused Tourism Minister Martin Cullen of ignoring the warning signs and refusing to put in place policies which would aid the recovery of the industry.

However, Mr Cullen said while it was a challenging year for the industry, Ireland was still doing well in comparison with other countries.

“All tourism destinations have been affected by the downturn and, in fact, Ireland has fared well so far this year when compared to other competitors in Europe,” the minister claimed.

“It should be noted that we still welcomed almost 2.7 million visitors in the first five months of this year alone, bringing corresponding benefits in terms of exports and employment to the Irish economy,” he said.

Commenting on the slump, president of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) Matthew Ryan said the figures showed the dire state of the tourism industry. “We need to up our game in tourism marketing abroad. We need everyone to pull together to get Ireland back on its feet as an international destination of choice.”

“We have world renowned music, sports and cultural figures, all proud of being Irish who through the co-ordination of Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland could be organised to promote our country on the world stage,” said Mr Ryan.

The IHF said a positive marketing message to Britain could be generated by extending the free transport scheme for Irish citizens aged 66 years to all British residents visiting the country.