SOME 70 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad last year, of whom just 10,000 came to Ireland. By 2020, the overall number is forecast to reach 100 million.
That is a measure of the opportunity and the challenge that China – and other developing countries like India – offer the Irish tourism market. But how well placed is the industry to meet that challenge? At first glance, and in the short term, the sector is ill-prepared. According to the Irish Hotels Federation, four out of five hoteliers fear for the very survival of their businesses. Nevertheless, Tourism Ireland has set a 5.5 per cent target for the growth in visitor numbers in 2012.
Simply stated, Ireland has too many hotels and too few guests to fill them: a legacy of the property boom and an uncompetitive tourism industry that priced itself out of the international market. The immediate outlook for the sector is not encouraging, despite the benefit of a temporary reduction in the VAT rate. This stimulus, which is designed to give Ireland a competitive advantage as a tourism destination, has cost taxpayers up to €130 million to fund. It is due to expire in December. The best argument for renewal, as Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar said recently, is some clear evidence the measure has created jobs. On that, Mr Varadkar is not sure.
At a time of scarce financial resources and shrinking budgets, the challenge facing any business is how to achieve more growth with less money. For Tourism Ireland, taking a longer-term view has meant a greater focus on markets with huge growth potential, such as China, India, Brazil and Russian. Living standards there are rising in line with the rapid rate of growth of their economies, and that in turn raises the spending power of visitors from these countries.
However, a more immediate concern for Tourism Ireland is to ensure the success of a major tourism initiative in 2013. “The Gathering” has been planned as a year-long celebration of homecoming with an emphasis on local festivals and on special events to encourage some among the Irish diaspora – an estimated 70 million people claim Irish ancestry – to pay a visit.
In the past, the potential of the Irish diaspora to support economic renewal and recovery has never been fully tapped. Tourism Ireland’s initiative is an imaginative marketing response to a crisis in the tourist industry. It deserves to succeed and, with public goodwill at home and abroad and the involvement of so many local communities, it certainly should.