This article is from page 21 of the 2011-01-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
TOURISM is a global industry. If the Irish tourism sector is to play its part in the recovery of the Irish economy in 2011, a number of factors beyond the control of Irish business, the Irish public and even Irish politics will have to be counted before the much hoped for return of the international tourist can take place.
Despite the global nature of tourism, there are a number of resolution which, according to Michael Vaughan, head of the Clare branch of the Irish Hotel Federation, could help the local tourism sector in the year to come.
“We need the British people to rediscover the value and confidence to travel to Ireland again because we have lost as much as 25 per cent of that market. As well as lending us their money they could do better still and come over here and spend some of their money with us again. That would be a huge boost to us. Germany and America in 2010 seems to be good prospects – America really seems to be bouncing back and while it’s hard to know for sure there seems to be an increase of as much as 10 per cent on last year so far which is a good sign. Germany also has a renewed buoyancy so if we work to make sure that the product is right and the price is right they we could see a bounce in the German visitors for next year,” said Michael.
“In terms of what the government could do they could always spend more money promoting the country. Every euro that is spent promoting tourism brings € 4 back into the economy which is a good return. I’d like to see a better regime when it comes to local authority charges when it comes to businesses. That is a big ask I know, because local authorities are strapped for cash at the moment.
“I think a good summer weatherwise would be a big boost for the tourist sector. I know that is asking the God above to do us a favour but that would be a real boost for us. A good summer always makes a big impact for us, at least you can guarantee a few good weeks of trade.
“What could happen and what we would very much like to see is that people who have money might come out and spend that money. There are people in the country who have money. We would hope that these people would come out in the national interest and spend a bit of money in whatever way they see fit – whether they would be buying a bowl of soup or sandwiches in a cafe or whatever. There is a lot of money out there but people are thinking that they shouldn’t be spending money because there is a recession. But it’s a strange situation, spending money is exactly what we need them to do.”
As well on a national level and international, there are things within the county of Clare itself which could bring about a boost for the local tourist trade in 2011.
“The town of Ennis is critical to us and we’d like to see a big festival in the town. There has been a lot of talk about getting the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann back to the town but either way we’d like to see more activity. I’d like to see more going on at Glór especially if it could be expanded to let it take conferences.
“That would be a huge boost to the county for us to be able to take conferences of about 500 people in the county. If we could also see the coming together of tourism interests to help each other out,” continued Michael.
“I’d like to see that proposed bridge down in Kilkee being built. Loop Head and west Clare generally is such an undiscovered part of the county and it would be great to have an iconic tourism project located down there. The people who have brought Loop Head to the forefront in recent deserve their just rewards and they deserve to continue on and to see the benefit of their labours in the months and years ahead.”