Hotels call for 'tourism tsar'

The Irish Hotels Federation has called for the appointment of a dedicated "tourism tsar" to lead Ireland's tourism marketing strategy in Britain,  in order to address the "catastrophic decline" of British visitors to Ireland.

According to the federation, visitor numbers from Britain are down 30 per cent since 2008.

It said the drop in British visitors to Ireland has been twice that experienced by European competitors who have been more successful in retaining British market share.

This indicates an "abysmal failure" of the current strategy for marketing Ireland to Britain, it claims.

"Given the unprecedented collapse in visitor numbers, we're calling on Minister Hanafin to respond with a sense of urgency and ensure the right person is at the reins to lead the marketing effort in Britain," federation president Paul Gallagher said.

"We need a person with vision, a proven track record in international marketing and an in-depth understanding of our tourism product. In light of the additional challenges facing the British economy as austerity measures come online later this year, we need to do everything in our power now to reverse the downward trend before things deteriorates further."

The IHF contends that, while economic factors have contributed to the fall in visitors from Britain, the over-riding issue has been an inability of Tourism Ireland to effectively communicate the enormous range of cultural and scenic attractions on offer in Ireland and the tremendous value that now exists.

The IHF states that the appointment of a tourism tsar for Britain must be backed up with appropriate financial investment targeting creative marketing campaigns that give Ireland a competitive advantage in attracting visitors from our main market.

"In terms of marketing, Ireland is clearly doing something wrong if we're losing visitors from Britain at double the rate of our European competitors [...] there has been a disastrous failure to re-energise the British market and get the message out that Ireland has tremendous value to offer as a holiday destination,"  Mr Gallagher said.

Mr Gallagher states that the appointment of a tourism tsar for the British market would rejuvenate Ireland's marketing efforts and provide greater focus in attracting visitors from Britain.