Mixed signals are emerging about the current tourist season. There is the now familiar refrain that Dublin is getting a disproportionate number of our six million annual visitors. Some regions remote from the capital would like Bord Failte to use its marketing resources to re-direct tourists away from Dublin. The Minister for Tourism, Mr McDaid, has lent his support to this idea, urging in particular the charms of Donegal.
However, the notion is flawed and wrong-headed. Like any consumer, a tourist will buy what he wants, not what a manufacturer wants to sell him. Capital cities will always enjoy an advantage; most tourists would think it eccentric to visit Ireland and miss out on seeing Dublin. Capital cities also have generally superior transport links. Bord Failte's job is to attract tourists to Ireland. Where in Ireland they wish to stay is a matter for the visitor. The taxpayers' money should not be used, in the name of regional dispersal, to encourage them to go to places they don't want to go to.
Bord Failte's marketing budget, in partnership with that of the tourism industry, must be used sensibly in an increasingly competitive market. Since 1988, Ireland has enjoyed unprecedented success in promoting itself as a tourist destination. However, other countries have been studying that success and seeing if they cannot replicate it. Scotland, for example, is now fully aware of how Ireland used golf as an international marketing tool. Should sterling weaken, Scotland could mount a formidable challenge.
Other parts of the country should recognise that Dublin does not hold all the aces and should emphasise their own advantages rather than seeking an artificial re-distribution of the available cake. Dublin provides excitement, according to recent research in the markets. But the same research also found that Ireland is valued by international consumers for the authenticity of its people, landscape and culture. That sounds much more like Donegal or Connemara than Dublin.
The research said international consumers valued in Ireland what they perceived as a simpler way of life, embracing values that modern Western countries have lost or forgotten. This perception may be at odds with the reality but again, if so far as it is true, it is to be found more readily outside Dublin and other major urban areas. These are advantages which regions outside Dublin should build on. That would be more positive than envying the capital its undoubted success.