Garth Brooks debacle has ‘tarnished’ Irish reputation

The cancellation of the five Garth Brooks concerts in Dublin has "tarnished" Ireland's image and reputation to overseas visitors, business and hospitality groups have said.

Fans who queued for days for tickets said they were struggling to “believe” the announcement that not even the three concerts given a licence would go ahead.

Restaurants Association of Ireland chief executive Adrian Cummins said the hospitality industry in Ireland was "reeling" after the news.

“The breakdown in communication between organisations in the Garth Brooks fiasco has the potential to damage brand Ireland abroad, but also tourism businesses internally,” he said.

Mr Cummins said the cancellation of the gigs would disrupt travel plans for thousands of fans who had already booked flights, hotels and tours.

“This fiasco tarnishes brand Ireland’s image as a destination to host large international music, sporting and cultural events,” he said.

Mr Cummins said an estimated €50 million in revenue for the State would be lost and the loss to the restaurant industry would be about €15 million.

Avril De Loughry, a Brooks fan who bought tickets for each of the five concerts, said she was “absolutely devastated”.

“I will just have to keep my childhood memory from 1997 for now. Hopefully he’ll announce a concert in the UK or somewhere soon, even if it’s the other side of the world I’ll be the first one there . I just have to,” she said.

Irish Hotels Federation president Stephen McNally said an estimated 70,000 people from overseas had planned to attend the concerts.

“The shambolic situation we now find ourselves in with the cancellation of all five concerts is nothing short of a disaster for our tourism industry,” he said.

“The knock on effect in terms of reputational damage is extremely negative for Ireland and how we are viewed by potential overseas visitors.”

Mr McNally said the Government needed to ensure the situation did not arise again. “This situation was entirely avoidable,” he said.

Fianna Fáil tourism spokesman Timmy Dooley said the decision for Brooks to cancel all five concerts was disappointing.

“With this debacle we have shot ourselves in the foot in a pretty spectacular way. This is a bad day for Ireland Inc,” he said.

Licensed Vintners Association chief executive Dónall O'Keeffe said the news was a "body blow" to the Dublin pub trade, which would lose an estimated €15 million from the series of concerts.

The group represents more than 600 publicans in Dublin city and county.

Mr O’Keeffe called on the Taoiseach to examine whether there was any avenue the Government could explore to rescue the situation.

Fine Gael TD John O' Mahony has called on Ticketmaster to refund booking fees as well as the ticket price to fans. "The last thing they(fans) need is for booking fees to be excluded from ticket refunds," he said. "Customers paid up to €6.10 per ticket, which quickly adds up if you are buying multiple tickets."

Paddy Power has started to take bets on when the country singer will next have a concert in Ireland.

A spokesman for the company said the “debacle” around the concerts showed there was a demand for Brooks.

“Fortunately for the crooner’s fans it’s a not at all unrealistic 2/1 that he’ll play to an Irish crowd in 2014 with odds of 4/1 available on him playing in 2015 or 2016,” the company said.