Minister urges tourism industry to show restraint

The tourism and hospitality industry should display restraint and "old-fashioned patriotism" when charging customers during the Ryder Cup in September, Minister for Art, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue urged yesterday.

His call came after US ambassador to Ireland James Kenny warned that attempts to exploit US tourists during the Ryder Cup would cause long-term damage.

Concerns had already been raised earlier this year by the Minister in relation to the price of accommodation, food and green fees during the Ryder Cup.

Speaking at the launch of a €10 million Tourism Ireland campaign for the regions, Mr O'Donoghue said there were some people who thought they would make short-term gains out of the Ryder Cup. But he warned that they would cause serious long-term damage to the hospitality industry.

"The challenge is to enhance the country's image under the world's microscope, and it will be under the world's microscope - I want to stress that," he said.

"The vast majority of those involved in the tourism and hospitality industry have been co-operative. All I am appealing for is common sense."

He said that if people came to Ireland and found their golf experience was too expensive or accommodation unfairly priced, the word would spread pretty quickly.

"I am calling for restraint, I am calling for understanding and I am calling for a bit of old-fashioned patriotism. I support the recent calls by the Irish Hotels Federation, the American ambassador and others for the exercise of restraint in pricing over this period."

Earlier this week, the US ambassador was reported by American news agency Bloomberg as saying that some Irish golf courses were doubling their fees during the event or over the summer, just because it was Ryder Cup year and that this could have long-term consequences for Irish tourism.

"That isn't real welcoming for Americans who might want to come back," he said.

A spokeswoman for the ambassador said yesterday that Mr Kenny made the comments in the context of being a tremendous fan of golf in Ireland. "He hopes that business people will think of the long, as well as the short-term possibilities," she said.

Meanwhile, the €10 million tourism marketing campaign launched yesterday will focus on attracting tourists to more rural parts of Ireland for the autumn.

Tourism Ireland, which markets the country overseas, is to roll out the campaign in Britain, the US and continental Europe. The campaign includes newspaper advertising, radio coverage, TV advertising and an online competition for American consumers.

There will also be a campaign to coincide with the Ryder Cup, including advertising every hour on Sky Sports 1 during the event and the airing of lifestyle programmes filmed in Ireland on NBC, CBS and the Golf Channel.

For the purposes of marketing abroad, Ireland has been divided into three "super regions": Ireland East and Dublin, Ireland South, and Ireland's western regions.

According to Tourism Ireland, larger geographic regions are more easily understandable and appealing to overseas customers.

Tourism campaign: what and where

Britain: Radio and press campaign including a "Golf lovers guide to Ireland" supplement in the Radio Times and a direct mail initiative.

United States: TV advertising on 10 national networks, in magazines and on websites including an online contest to win trips to Ireland.

Germany: Using the Ireland v Germany soccer game in September, Tourism Ireland will run promotions on food packaging as well as radio and online advertising.

France: A radio campaign will run in Paris and the regions with direct access, along with internet campaigns.

General: Print, online, joint promotions and consumer competitions have also been running across all markets in advance of the Ryder Cup and 200 prizewinners will be attending the event following these.