Hotel room hikes are ‘a threat to tourism’
Record year for visitors comes with a warning
IRELAND’S tourism reputation could be damaged if hotel prices continue to rise, the junior tourism minister has warned.
And Brendan Griffin said that if there was more focus on areas outside Dublin, the pressure on prices in the capital could be alleviated.
Speaking at the launch of Tourism Ireland’s annual report which revealed a record total of 11.2million visitors in 2018, Mr Griffin said of the cost of hotel stays, especially in Dublin: ‘It exposes us to potential reputational risk if we don’t maintain value for money, if we don’t continue to be competitive.’
Mr Griffin remarked that strengthening tourist experiences outside of Dublin, such as the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East, would help deal with the lack of hotel rooms in the capital.
‘We need extra hotel beds, that is very clear. There are some coming but they are not coming quickly enough and we need to see an acceleration of that.
‘If we can get the regionality side of things focused on and delivered on, which is what our policy is very much about, I think that will alleviate part of that problem,’ said Minister Griffin.
Tourism Ireland yesterday revealed that it has been a record year on the whole of the island, with Ireland projected to have welcomed 11.2million visitors from abroad by the end of 2018, contributing €6.1billion in additional revenue.
Tourism Ireland said we had additional visitors this year from North America, mainland Europe, and Australia, along with other emerging markets.
The CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, said that throughout 2018 the major focus was placed on Ireland’s Ancient East, and the Wild Atlantic Way, as well as areas associated with Star Wars and Game of Thrones.
Tourism Ireland also unveiled their new ad campaign entitled, ‘Fill your heart with Ireland’ which will be launched in the USA, Britain, France and Germany in the next week, and rolled out to over 20 markets in the new year.
The campaign will include TV, cinema, print, outdoor, online and social media ads, with €45million being spent marketing Ireland in 2019.
Speaking on the new campaign, Mr Gibbons said: ‘It will feature locations that have been less visited by overseas visitors and will also highlight outdoor activities like cycling, walking and kayaking.’
Mr Gibbons added that the board has launched its marketing plans to promote Ireland in 2019 with the aim to grow visitors to Ireland by 4% to 11.6million and grow revenue by 6%, to €6.5billion.