Tourists love Ireland but food leaves sour taste

Almost all overseas tourists who visited the Republic last year would recommend it as a holiday destination, but almost half believe Irish restaurants do not offer value for money, a new study has found.

Research from State tourism training body, CERT, shows that while 97 per cent of overseas tourists would advise friends to visit the Republic, about 48 per cent are critical of restaurant pricing policies, particularly in the mid-range sector.

While overall satisfaction with restaurants stood at 60 per cent, just 48 per cent of the 1,000 tourists surveyed last summer considered that they had received good value for money.

Continental Europeans were least content on this front, with German tourists most unhappy with the price of eating out.

CERT highlighted "concern" over low satisfaction levels among diners in medium to low-quality restaurants and pubs, the venues which it says are typically favoured by younger visitors likely to make return visits.

"Value for money and menu variety were the two biggest causes of dissatisfaction across the board and there is clearly room for improvement in these areas," said CERT chairman, Mr Eamonn McKeon.

French and Italian visitors were particularly disappointed to see few salad or fish options on moderately priced menus. "There is a message there," said Mr McKeon, suggesting that restaurants might consider developing "fixed-price" menus which offer simple food at low prices, as well as moving away from an emphasis on fried food in the future.

CERT's review and outlook research shows that tourism businesses are "reasonably optimistic" about their prospects for the medium term.

Almost 40 per cent of hoteliers and about 30 per cent of restaurant owners said their prospects were "very good", but Mr McKeon warned that this optimism was based on hope rather than firm expectation. He said previous experience of international conflict suggests, for example, that a war in Iraq could cause a tourism downturn lasting a number of seasons.

The tourism sector must minimise the impact of any potential shocks by addressing the factors over which it has control, according to Mr McKeon. "If there is a war, it will be the third successive year of American decline. If it doesn't happen, we could reasonably expect strong growth for North America," he said, pointing to the recent commencement of a number of new airline services between the US and Ireland.

American tourists currently account for about 18 per cent of all international visitors to the Republic, but tend to spend twice as much as most other tourists during their stay. The recent upward movement of the euro against the US currency could diminish this differential in the future however, Mr McKeon warned.

Taking 2002 as a whole, CERT has concluded that "forecasts of a major downturn in the industry proved unfounded", with activity levels holding up and many businesses benefiting from buoyant consumer spending.

Some 40 per cent of hoteliers and 32 per cent of restaurant owners expect 2002 revenues to be up on 2001. The CERT study shows furthermore that while job vacancy rates fell, general employment levels in the sector remained steady over the year.