Tourism groups welcome moves

Lobby groups have today welcomed the announcement that people from overseas aged over 66 will be able to avail of vouchers for reduced fares on Irish railways.

However, the Opposition has condemned the decision to retain the €10 airport departure tax.

The railway voucher scheme, coupled with an increased level of funding for tourism marketing and a reduction in excise duty on alcohol, will boost the tourism sector, the Irish Hotel Federation (IHF) said.

The tourism services budget is to increase by 2 per cent to €155 million, while €44.25 million is to be earmarked to promote Ireland as a destination both internationally and domestically.

IHF president Matthew Ryan welcomed the “acknowledgement by Government of the important role of tourism in the economy”.

He described as “creative” the Government’s plan to expand the State’s tourism attractiveness by providing older people from overseas age with vouchers for reduced travel costs on rail services within the country.

“This voucher scheme offering discounts is a great step in the right direction. It will provide a major boost to Ireland’s appeal to this lucrative market abroad – some 80 million senior citizens in the EU alone.”

Overseas trips to Ireland are down almost 14 per cent this year with the British market particularly badly hit.

The IHF also welcomed the Government’s decision to reduce excise duty on alcohol products, describing it as a much-needed measure to assist competitiveness and address the imbalance that now exists between Ireland and the UK.

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) expressed its relief that marketing investment has been kept at levels that will allow for campaigns of a similar level as this year in Ireland’s main source markets.

“Early signs of economic recovery exist in our principal source markets - the United States, Britain, France and Germany,” ITIC chairman Tom Haughey said. “It is critical that Irish tourism exploits the opportunity which this presents.”

The group also said it was delighted that had been “a significant restoration of the tourism capital grant of €22 million, which will leverage substantial investment in job creation and product enhancement”.

The retention of the airport departure tax was condemned by the Opposition, however. Fine Gael’s tourism spokeswoman, Olivia Mitchell, said it showed the Government was “determined to drive the tourism industry into the ground”.

She said Mr Lenihan had “wasted the opportunity to get rid of the travel tax that all objective reports, including the Government’s own advisers, show to be counter-productive. Other taxes that are hurting people, such as the holiday home tax, were similarly ignored.”