Record revenue figures mask major shifts in tourism trends

The era of the boutique tourist has arrived, posing serious challenges for traditional destinations, accommodations and attractions, writes Barry O'Halloran.

Given the hype about the recent Ryder Cup, this may not be the best time to mention it, but more people visit this country to go hill walking than to play golf.

Figures released this week show that this year has been a bumper one for tourism across the island. When it ends in three weeks' time, close to nine million people will have visited the country and revenues will have hit €4.2 billion.

But there is a lot more than we realise going on behind those figures, such as the fact that more people enjoy walking our hills than playing on our growing number of golf courses.

Irish tourism is going through a major shift, according to Jacinta Stacey, head of self-catering operator, Trident Homes, who has been working in the sector for 20 years.

Visitors are increasingly, but not entirely, avoiding the conventional avenues of tour operators, and instead come under their own steam, using the internet to book flights, accommodation and the other services they need.

When they get here, they may not necessarily stay from Saturday to Saturday. They are less likely to visit the established destinations in the south and west, and their expectations of the country have changed from the days when we sold ourselves as the laid back, scenic emerald isle.

In fact, as the industry has adapted to accommodate these changes in holiday makers' tastes, she warns that it is in danger of alienating visitors looking for more traditional holidays.

The kind featuring attractions that were once considered integral to holidaying here, such as cottages (whether thatched or not), scenery, trad sessions in the local pub and bucolic locals.

"We need a balance," she says. "I think that there has been a change in how Ireland is perceived as a destination, that we're this thriving, buzzing, up-market European country.

"We're attracting a different kind of customer, more of a boutique customer if you like. Someone who comes to Dublin, does a bit of shopping and then maybe heads to Dunmore East for a short stay before heading off again.

"But I think we are alienating some of the customers, the person who has come for the other side of the scale. That's where we need to strike the balance."

She agrees that we are getting quite a few things right. In recent years, Fáilte Ireland has put a lot of emphasis on selling activity holidays. The focus on things like golf, walking, horse riding and old stalwarts like angling, is kicking in.

"It's only really starting to happen now," she says.

A good part of that experience is seeing unique places like the Glen of Aherlow (Co Tipperary) and better-known sights like Killarney or the Cliffs of Moher.

But it is the places where most of these attractions can be found, the west and southwest, that are facing something of a crisis, ironically, as these landmarks are highlighted in virtually all the literature used to sell this country to holidaymakers.

It's already well documented that the balance has shifted to the east coast. Visitor numbers to west have fallen while at the other side of the country, they've grown rapidly. At the same time, a high proportion of holidaymakers travelling outside Dublin are Irish rather than from abroad.

This is good news when Trident is trying to let cottages in Wexford, but it makes those in the west a tougher sell. Stacey believes that the key issue here is access.

There are more flights into Dublin, in many cases they're cheaper, and thus the capital and its hinterland have become more attractive. "It's all about access," she says.

Another traditional aspect of the business that's suffering is the B&B, which was not only a feature of visiting this country, but also a vital source of income to many rural households.

B&Bs are facing increased competition from hotels. There are over one million more hotel bed nights available in the country than there were 10 years ago.

A high proportion of them are budget accommodation, run by international management companies, which have narrowed the price difference between B&Bs and hotel rooms. Stacey points out that hotels can offer extras, such as food and a bar, which B&Bs often can't.

Hotels will let rooms very cheaply as they need a certain volume of business to stay viable, and then make their money from the extras. B&Bs really only have one revenue stream and, as a general rule, they're more expensive to run on a room-by-room basis.

Trident's own business has seen a lot of changes. She started in the trade in 1986, managing eight houses in Lansdowne village in Dublin, which were pitched at the corporate market.

They were offered for rent because the developer, homebuilder, McInerney, could not sell them. She launched Trident in 1989, and now has 550 properties in over 40 locations. The company turns over €5.5 million.

During her time in the business, the holiday home stock has grown rapidly, driven by the seaside resort tax breaks offered in the 1990s.

This brought large numbers of individual investors into the game, most of whom were new to it. Trident, which recently merged with James Flynn's Discovery Holidays, adapted to this competition in the best way possible: it joined it.

The company manages groups of these properties on behalf of the various individuals involved, pooling rents and costs. At the same time, Stacey is mildly critical of the way in which incentivised holiday homes mushroomed around the State, as she believes it was done without any particular strategy.

"Nobody looked at the requirements of a particular area, and it was all down to the local planning authority," she says. "Once they passed it, it was okay."

The good news for holidaymakers is that costs are competitive. Average weekly lets are €400, compared with £250 10 years ago.

Investors need to have their properties let for about 20 weeks in order to break even. Outside the peak months of July and August, this is not always easy, but she says Trident is managing to do this.

There are plenty of growth areas. Surfing is one that she singles out, hill walking another. But she is unsure about the rate at which the business is supposed to be growing, as she believes that the methods of collecting figures are not as good as they could be.

Figures are collected by returning forms to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which, she says, are complex and don't necessarily ask the right questions, and by sampling, which is at risk of being hit and miss.

"What they need to do is to talk to people in the industry. We can tell them what questions they should be asking us."

That sounds like a good place to start . . .