Tourism data key to Brexit
MEASURING TOURISM CAN HELP US PLAN FOR BREXIT
NO data is being collected locally to help tourism operators in Sligo ‘ Brexit- proof ’ their plans.
Tourists from Britain are already reporting decreasing levels of satisfaction in value for their money here, delegates heard at the 13th Annual Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference held at IT Sligo last Thursday.
Sligo PhD researcher Emmet McLoughlin told delegates that Local Authorities have a huge role to play in collecting data on tourism activity locally to measure the economic impact of Brexit.
The European Commission has developed a free toolkit to measure tourist activity - ‘ European Tourism Indicators System’ ( ETIS) which is available on their website.
However Emmet found that not a single Local Authority he surveyed, including Sligo, are using this toolkit - meaning they’re planning tourism policy without the data.
“I got the same responses from everywhere - we don’t have the funding, resources or staff in place to collect data on tourism activity to provide to local entrepreneurs, to enable them to see the current trends in tourism locally,” said Emmet.
“There could be a sense of apathy or ‘ might not be my area’ but it’s a free toolkit, all they need is someone allocated to collect the data, ideally a tourism officer/ manager,” he told this newspaper.
They could then work with a Senior Planner in the Council to develop future tourism plans with the data collected.
“Future Development Plans may mention Brexit but what are these plans based on? Is it data or conjecture?” he said.
When contacted by The Sligo Champion, Sligo County Council Head of Planning Frank Moylan said he would be open to using the ETIS toolkit.
President of Sligo Chamber of Commerce Des Faul also picked up on the toolkit: “We need to take seriously the measuring of tourism here. It’s not just a Sligo thing, it’s a national problem. If we don’t take it seriously now, where are we going to be in five years time?”
CEO of Sligo BIDS Gail McGibbon said the conference highlighted the importance of the digital space: “We have a mobile app Sligo. ie and all our businesses are on it - we need to get that message out more.”
Councillor Paul Taylor represented South Sligo Tourism at the conference: “We’re in our infancy but doing our best to get it out there. It’s difficult because it’s volunteer driven but the businesses are buying in to what we’re trying to do. If we can get people to stay even one night extra in Sligo.”
The conference brought together all the latest research on the Tourism and Hospitality sector, and featured 150 of Ireland’s leading tourism professionals and researchers.