Cameron hits 'Ireland more beautiful' claim

RATE MY COUNTRY:BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has taken issue with a global survey which ranked Ireland a more beautiful country than the UK.

The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index found Ireland to be the 12th most beautiful country in the world with the UK at 24th in a survey of global travellers.

In a major speech on tourism last week, Mr Cameron said a seventh of England is designated an area of outstanding natural beauty, yet it is ranked behind Japan, Finland and Ireland.

“Of course Ireland is beautiful, but why is the UK 12 places behind?” he commented. Mr Cameron said it was a matter of perception and the British were not working hard enough to celebrate their country at home and to sell it abroad.

The index was started two years ago and involves the perceptions of 20,000 people who are interviewed in 20 countries.

The survey was started by Simon Anholt, who invented the conception of a “nation brand” and was the keynote speaker earlier this year at the Gateway Ireland Project, which seeks to unite the Irish diaspora through a global website.

The index ranked the United States as the No 1 nation brand in the world last year, Ireland was 19th. Australia and New Zealand ranked No 1 and No 2 respectively in the “rich in natural beauty” category.

Ireland was ranked ahead of Germany and Argentina which both have dramatic mountain scenery and South Africa, the World Cup hosts, which has some of the most coveted wilderness areas in the world.

For many tourists, natural beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Ireland’s high ranking for a small country could be perceived to be a triumph of marketing as much as it is a tribute to the country’s natural beauty, given the number of countries which arguably have more dramatic landscapes.

Responding to David Cameron’s speech last week, the Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin told the BBC that Ireland had increased its marketing budget for tourism at a time when there were swingeing cutbacks in Government spending.

Tourism Ireland director of markets Simon Gregory said that Ireland’s beautiful scenery surfaced “again and again” in research about Ireland’s unique selling points.

“To be ranked at 12 in the world – ahead of destinations like the UK, South Africa, Argentina and Germany – shows how highly our natural landscape is regarded,” he said.