Pubandpub culture‘vital fortourism’
THE pub and pub culture are vital to Wexford’s tourism product, but fewer visitors from the UK will hamper growth, says new report
‘ The Contribution of the Drinks Industry to Irish Tourism,’ commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) says the tourism industry is worth €143 million to the Model County, with 80 per cent of visitors saying the Irish pub was the most important factor influencing their decision to holiday here;
Tourism in Wexford is critically important to tourist towns like Rosslare and Gorey. There are 265 pubs, 73 licenced restaurants, 22 hotels, 108 off-licences, 15 wholesalers and six producers in the county.
The DIG digi says that without a reduction in alcohol excise tax - the second highest in Europe - in Budget 2018, what it calls the ‘Brexit Budget’, and exacerbated by the collapse in the value of sterling against the euro, the numbers of tourists from the UK will fall, impacting the government’s plans to grow the tourism market.
A Failte Ireland survey found that 80 percent of all overseas visitors to Ireland picked the Irish pub as the most influential factor in booking their trip here, and also said it was an attraction they most wished to visit on their holiday.
Tourists spend over a third (34 per cent) of their holiday budget on food and drink; this figure rises to 40 per cent for British tourists, according the DIGI report which was authored by Dublin City University economist Anthony Foley.
British tourists account for 41 percent of all visitors to Ireland, the country’s largest single market. British tourists spent €1.1 billion in Ireland in 2016, but a 6.2 percent drop in their numbers in the first seven months of 2017 compared to last year would equate to revenue loss of €68.2 million if the trend continues.