Ministers says hoteliers taking ostrich-like stance

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr John O'Donoghue, has accused Irish hoteliers' representatives of failing to face up to the weaknesses in the tourism industry.

The Minister was responding to allegations made by representatives of the Irish Hotels Federation in The Irish Times yesterday that his recent comments about the tourism industry were "negative and destructive" and had generated bad publicity for the industry.

"To suggest my comments were negative and destructive is to behave like an ostrich," he said.

The Minister sustained criticism from the vice chairman of the IHF, Mr Michael Rosney, and chairman of the Kerry branch of IHF, Mr Pat Gill, for his reaction to the draft report on the tourism industry, which was leaked last week.

The report compiled by economics consultant Mr Paul Tansey for the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation, found Ireland was suffering a serious erosion of price competitiveness and "a deterioration in overseas visitors' perceptions of product and service quality".

The Minister had described the report as a "wake-up call" for the industry and said there was evidence of "abnormal price increases" in a number of sectors during the first quarter of 2002.

Speaking following the launch of Bord Fáilte's autumn/winter brochure yesterday, the Minister said his comments were "neither destructive or negative.

"If I buried my head in the the sand and ignored the report I would be in dereliction of my duty. As Minister for Tourism it is my job to grow Irish tourism in an open and honest environment," he said.

He added that on "numerous occasions" he has stressed that value for money was to be had in Irish tourism, but he said he could not keep silent, "when evidence is produced to suggest that food in restaurants, food in shops and the cost of living in general is militating against attracting tourists".

Mr O'Donoghue rejected the suggestion that he had generated negative publicity by responding to the leaked report. "The reality of the situation is that the report was going to be published," he said.

"It is not my report, I did not leak the report, but I must confront the facts as I find them, to suggest I do otherwise is absolutely ludicrous."

He said there were weaknesses in the industry and, "we cannot close off these weaknesses if we do not face up to them".

The Minister said he met the chairman and the board of the Kerry branch of the IHF on Tuesday night to explain his position and told them there was "no question of me retracting the remarks".

However, during his speech at the launch of the Bord Fáilte brochure, the Minister held out an olive branch to hoteliers, in highlighting the growth in their sector.

"Figures available today show that while some markets have performed weakly, hotel bed-night sales from the Ireland market have actually risen this year by 15 per cent," he said.