Yes, we charge tourists more... we’re worth it
IT’S fair to say that international tourism expert Michael Hall is not a big fan of Ireland or of Dublin in particular. The New Zealand academic, who was gouged for €400 for a night in a chain hotel in Dublin, says the city is such a ‘rip-off’ that he’d never visit again. ‘Why would I come round the other side of the world to Ireland?’ he asked at a tourism conference in Sligo. ‘There are lots of (other) beautiful countries. It is not particularly cheap.’
It’s true that prices are sky-high in dear old dirty Dublin. Outside the capital, it’s not much better.
The recession brought some sanity to restaurant prices but the effects are gradually evaporating and we’re almost back to 2008 and bills of €100 for a pub-grub dinner for a family of four.
But high prices and tourism are not mutually exclusive, as I’m sure Professor Hall, from the esteemed University of Canterbury in Christchurch, is well aware. He also, presumably, knows that high prices have their purpose.
They are an effective bulwark against mass tourism, which cities like Venice and Amsterdam are now trying to reverse, and which a place the size of Dublin could never cope with.
Rocketing prices might be greedy and detrimental to the lifestyle of residents but the truth is that most tourists to this country are not as price-sensitive as our New Zealand visitor.
THEY come here in record numbers, knowing it’s expensive and that the place is a rain-sodden island. As an impartial academic, it’s surprising that the professor is not curious about our success, rather than stating what is obvious to most people. It’s not hard to understand the appeal of London, Paris and New York, where not even terror threats can stop the all-yearround tourist stampede.
Visitors pay obscene prices to see Westminster Abbey, the Sacre Coeur or other splendid landmarks that they know from television. Dublin does not boast a comparable swathe of architectural gems, so how are our visitor numbers increasing every year and on course to top last year’s record of close to nine million?
After holidaying – if that is an accurate description – in Eastern Europe last summer, I can vouch for how far a friendly smile and easygoing charm go in making people feel at home.
We have a spectacular coastline along the Wild Atlantic Way and the east coast and scenic lakes, bogs and monasteries in the midlands.
Our literary tradition is also part of our brand. Professor Hall may scoff at the portraits in Dublin Airport of Yeats and Joyce but they are not aimed at Philistines but at book lovers and students who eagerly come here to visit the birthplace of their heroes, the cradle of their geniuses.
THE diddle-eye music which also irked Michael Hall in the airport is also a huge draw. Perhaps he’s a U2 fan and would prefer to see Bono’s face in lights but that is just his subjective opinion; it does not belong in an analysis of a country’s tourism. A live session of traditional music in an Irish pub over a glass of Guinness ticks a lot of boxes for visitors who hanker for respite from their bland local.
Professor Hall says our diaspora guarantees the survival of our tourism industry. But most European countries have a diaspora, they just don’t have the Irish knack of passing a love of the old sod down through the generations, along with a yearning to visit.
How do we do that? I don’t know but you might think a tourism scholar who is well travelled and learned could throw some light on the mystery.
Professor Hall doesn’t have to like the country to acknowledge that an awful lot of people feel the opposite way. Nine million annual visitors can’t all be wrong.