10,000 job losses as numbers of visitors falls

Since last Christmas 10,000 people have lost their jobs and that figure is expected to rise as the tourism sector reels from the impact of September 11 and the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Bord Fáilte has just confirmed that the number of tourists fell by one million. This will shave £306m off expected tourism earnings for 2001, leaving the exchequer £114m worse off.

The September 11 attacks, with the crippling foot-and-mouth scare and the general downturn in the global economy, are blamed for the first drop in visitor numbers to Ireland since the Gulf War.

TTC Consultants, who compiled a report for Bórd Fáilte and Irish Tourist Industry Confederation on the situation, estimate that 10,200 workers will have been made redundant by December 31.

According to Bórd Fáilte, one in 12 jobs is sustained by the lucrative tourism industry.

The consultants warn, in the best case scenario, Ireland will recover just over half of lost visitors next year, but that assumes there are no further terrorist attacks, no resurgence of foot-and-mouth and a return to full airline capacity. The bleakest outlook is that the market could collapse by a further 30% in 2002.

"Growth from other markets will not directly compensate for the loss of US tourists. On average, a US citizen spends more than twice that of a British visitor," the report notes.

The consultants call for a sustained marketing campaign to stem the haemorrhage: "Job losses will increase, exchequer receipts will decline further, but more importantly, the cost and duration of recovery in the years ahead will be greater and more protracted if Ireland loses its market position and share during these difficult times."

Responding to the report, Bórd Fáilte spokesman, John Brown said: "Overall it’s been a terrible year. You would have to go back to 1991 and the Gulf War to find a dip in visitor numbers and, after that, it has just been continuous growth."

Airlines have cut their capacity into Ireland by 25% as the number of North American visitors dropped 28% and the total number of overseas visitors fell by 8%, he said.

The TTC report shows that while 6.6 million people were expected to visit Ireland this year, only between 5.6 and 5.8 million will have travelled by December 31.