Shane Ross: Plans in place for Brexit but we’ll have to wait and see

The Government has “several contingency plans” to deal with the challenge posed by the Brexit fallout, Tourism Minister Shane Ross said yesterday.

He was speaking after Tourism Ireland revealed 2016 is set to be the best ever year for Irish tourism, surpassing all previous records.

By the end of the year, 10.5m people will have visited the country, north and south, an 11% increase over 2015 with growth recorded in all markets.

Revenue generated by international visitors is expected to be €5.4bn, a 10% increase over last year that is helping to sustain about 263,000 jobs across the country.

Tourism Ireland plans to increase overseas tourism revenue by 4.5% to €5.7bn next year. The aim of the all-Ireland body is to strengthen this year’s results and welcome 10.6m overseas visitors in 2017.

Some factors have been working in Ireland’s favour, including new flights from the US, Germany, and Scandinavia as well as expanded services via the Middle East from long-haul countries.

Mr Ross said preparations were continuing at both a political and official level to deal with the challenge posed by Britain’s referendum vote to leave the EU.

“Models are being considered for all possible eventualities, particularly in the tourism sector,” he said.

“We have got several plans to deal with Brexit, but I tell you quite simply we will have to see how it works out. When we see how Brexit works out on the British side we will be able to adjust our models accordingly.”

The chief executive of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, said key messages highlighted next year would be the depreciation of sterling against the euro and the ease of travelling to Ireland.

“As our nearest neighbour and our largest market for overseas tourism, Britain will remain a priority for us,” he said.

However, Brexit did pose some competitive challenges. “It means that we will have to offer real value for money,” he said.

Next summer, there would be over 230,000 airline seats and 40,000 car spaces on ferries between Britain and Ireland. “It is still going to be very easy to get here from Britain and we will be doing our best to promote that,” said Mr Gibbons.

Mr Ross, meanwhile, described as “complete and utter nonsense” claims he was not spending enough time on the tourism portfolio. “There is simply no evidence produced by anybody to support that — not one scintilla,” he said.