Tourism hit by drop in visitors from UK

A continuing slump in visitor numbers from Britain was the main factor in a "sluggish" year for Irish tourism, according to the trade's umbrella group.

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation said total visitor numbers were likely to be up by about 2.7 per cent on 2003.

It also predicted a "moderate" 2 per cent increase in revenue compared with last year's €3.2 billion.

But the group warned that such figures fell well short of the industry's 4 per cent growth target and of the returns needed to justify the heavy investment made by many Irish businesses.

With Britain accounting for 56 per cent of all visitors here, ITIC described the continuing decline in the British market as "worrying" and said that measures to reverse the trend were the sector's No 1 priority for 2005.

Tourism Ireland - the all-island body which promotes Ireland as a visitor destination - will shortly complete a major study of why the British market has gone "soft".

But ITIC blamed a wider international trend towards short breaks, mainly in cities and other urban areas, at the expense of the traditional touring holiday. It called for action to stimulate car-based travel to the regions.

The most positive developments in 2004 concerned the domestic and North American markets, ITIC said.

Despite the weakness of the US dollar, visitor numbers from North America grew by 8.6 per cent in the first nine months of this year, according to Central Statistics Office figures.

Meanwhile, the tourism confederation said that a combination of early-season returns and anecdotal evidence suggested that the performance of the home holiday market had been of "enormous importance to the viability of tourism enterprises in the regions".

The chief executive of the ITIC, Mr Brendan Leahy, said that, while Ireland's high cost base was a concern for tourism businesses, there was little evidence that high prices here were a factor in depressing visitor numbers.

"Ireland is not cheap, but it's not a rip-off either," he insisted.

Surveys had shown that well over 90 per cent of visitors returned home satisfied and willing to recommend the experience to their friends.

Mr Leahy emphasised that the fall-off in British tourism here was part of an overall trend in the UK, where only long-haul travel is now a growth area.

As well as steps to address the decline in the British market, ITIC has identified a number of other key areas where it said action to support the industry would be needed in 2005.

These include a call on the Government to renegotiate the Ireland-US bilateral air agreement to expand traffic into this country. Measures to increase air capacity from Europe would be needed, too.

The confederation also called for action to increase the mobility and regional spread of visitors to counter the trend towards short urban-based holidays.

Finally, claiming that the industry was doing its bit through "discounting and competitive pricing", ITIC called on the Government to reduce tourism's cost base by bringing indirect taxation into line with average eurozone levels.