80% of hotels expect rise in business in 2015

Global travel trends on the rise and Irish tourism has a spring in its step again, says Fáilte Ireland

Eight out of 10 hotels expect an increase in business this year — and tourism companies’ sentiment is at its highest since the downturn began.

According to Fáilte Ireland’s barometer, tourism businesses are thriving, with more than three quarters (77%) expecting growth for the coming year.

The barometer is a survey of businesses from hotels and B&Bs and restaurants to tourist attractions. It seeks to gauge tourism performance for the year to date and prospects for the year ahead.

The majority of paid serviced accommodation providers (60%) are reporting business is up this year to date compared to the same period in 2014 rising to two thirds (66%) among hoteliers.

Almost seven out of 10 paid accommodation providers said they expected both domestic and overseas markets to generate growth in the coming season.

For the majority of such businesses, Britain (68%) and North America (67%) in particular are expected to deliver growth. The optimism for the latter two markets seems to be driven by the anticipation that exchange rates will remain favourable — mentioned by 75% of businesses.

Other factors influencing an optimistic outlook for the year ahead include the impact of repeat visitors (indicated by 72% of respondents), businesses’ own marketing efforts (54%) and a strengthening domestic economy (53%) which are also expected to help bolster performance for the majority of businesses.

With regard to Ireland’s value for money, the survey picked up a strong belief among respondents that the country’s reputation as a destination is improving overseas and that visitors and potential visitors consider Ireland to provide better value for money than it did in previous years.

This mirrors the very positive value for money ratings in recent visitor surveys.

Fáilte’s recent Ireland Visitor Attitudes Survey pointed out satisfaction levels among visitors continues to improve with 54% of tourists saying they found good or very good value for money here — up from 51% in 2014.

While last year only 6% of visitors found value for money to be poor or very poor, in 2007 this figure was 41%. When asked about their overall opinion of an Irish holiday, 55% of respondents said their trip met all expectations, while a further 44% said their holiday exceeded all expectations.

Commenting on the barometer results, the CEO of Fáilte Ireland, Shaun Quinn, said the tourism sector was going “from strength to strength” thanks to initiatives such as the lower Vat rate for the sector.

“With global travel trends on the rise, some favourable currency exchange rates and significant new Fáilte Ireland initiatives, such as the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East, tourism has a spring in its step again.

“That’s good for the economy and for jobs — particularly in those many rural regions where tourism is one of the main economic drivers,” he said.

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