Tourism moves from survival mode to recovery

The tourism industry is moving from survival mode towards a period of recovery and growth with a clear focus on attracting overseas visitors.

The optimistic forecast was made by of Fáilte Ireland chief executive Seán Quinn, as he welcomed figures showing a significant rise in the number of foreign tourists so far in 2013.

However, Mr Quinn, who is also chairman of the Gathering initiative, said tourism providers who relied on domestic and British markets would face severe challenges in the future.

He said the country’s two largest tourism markets were not performing well compared to other key overseas markets like the US, France, and Germany, due to ongoing weak economic performances here and in Britain.

He said tourism providers needed to reduce reliance on both markets as they remained “soft” and were not growing. It is estimated that domestic holidaymakers still account for about 40% of the tourism market.

Addressing the Oireachtas committee on transport and communications, Mr Quinn said: “The need to reduce reliance on a static home market for incremental business must now be clear to all tourism businesses.”

He acknowledged that some areas outside the main destinations — Dublin, Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, and Killarney — were not experiencing any signs of a recovery.

The latest figures from the CSO show there has been a 6.4% rise in the number of overseas visitors to Ireland in the first five months of 2013.

A total of 2,488,500 foreign tourists visited the country between January and May — an increase of 149,200 over the corresponding period last year.

Peter Nash, Tourism Ireland’s head of strategy, development and insights, said such figures were very encouraging.

He highlighted how the figures indicated there had been a 20% increase in the number of overseas holidaymakers during the period, while tourism revenue was up by 12%.

He claimed the number of foreign tourists from long-haul markets such as Australia, China, and India was set to break all records in 2013, while the number of visitors from the US was likely to break more than 1m, spending over $1bn (€771m).

Mr Nash said tourism revenue from visitors from mainland Europe had now surpassed the level of expenditure by British visitors who are traditionally Ireland’s largest market segment.

Tim Finn, chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation, said excess room capacity in the industry would continue to have a negative impact on business for “some time to come”.

Mr Finn also criticised the level of commercial rates charged by local authorities, pointing out that fewer than 900 hotels were paying more than €90m in rates annually. He claimed such figures equated to rates as high as €3,000 per hotel room in some areas.

Asked about the issue of the sponsorship of sporting and cultural events by drinks firms, Mr Finn said it did benefit the industry.

However, he said the subject should only be addressed after the Government had tackled the bigger problem of below-cost selling of alcohol. Mr Finn said the trend of hotel guests bringing their own alcohol into bedrooms and functions had become widespread.