BRITISH VISITORS hold the key to the future of Irish tourism which is an industry “in crisis”, according to Irish Hotel Federation (IHF) chief executive John Power.
On the eve of the IHF’s annual conference in Galway, which is due to be opened by Taoiseach Brian Cowen today, Mr Power said that identifying ways to recover a share of the British market represented “the greatest challenge” facing Irish tourism.
“Demand dropped across all markets but was particularly severe from Britain. The number of British holiday visitors had been stable at approximately 1.7 million per annum over the past 10 years, before falling by 10 per cent in 2008 and a further 16 per cent in 2009.”
Mr Power said that hoteliers were “struggling to deal with decimated revenues and extremely difficult trading conditions which show no sign of being resolved”.
Last year would be remembered “regrettably” as the year when the industry dropped almost one million visitors and €1 billion in revenue. Total tourism revenues collapsed by 17 per cent to €5.2 billion in 2009, their lowest level since 2004, with the British tourist market “performing disastrously”, Mr Power said.
The drop in revenues was principally due to a 12 per cent decline in overseas visitor numbers to 6.5 million in 2009, he said, and a corresponding reduction of €900 million in the value of foreign exchange earnings of the sector.
This was coupled with a 5 per cent drop in domestic trips and a resultant 9 per cent fall in revenue. The sector is highly dependent on the home market, with 70 per cent of hotel bed nights now coming from the island of Ireland – of which 66 per cent are from within the State.
The dramatic fall in national room occupancies was at a level not experienced since the early 1980s, he said. The highest reduction in overseas visitor numbers, at 27 per cent, was recorded in the Shannon area, while the west was down by 17 per cent, the southeast, southwest, northwest by 15 per cent, the midlands by 9 per cent and Dublin by 6 per cent.
The decline in occupancy was “exacerbated by a substantial weakening in room rates by approximately 20 per cent”.
“With the right resources in place, tourism stands ready to assist the country’s return to economic recovery,” Mr Power added, but the “rebound” was expected to be gradual.
Most forecasts for travel and tourism suggested an overall modest rate of global growth this year, with the “most optimistic” anticipating a demand increase of up to 3 per cent.
Tourism remained Ireland’s most important indigenous industry, representing a direct contribution of 4 per cent to overall GNP in 2009 and supporting an estimated 200,000 jobs, Mr Power continued. With an estimated 1.9 million people presently at work in Ireland, tourism expenditure supported more than 11 per cent of those in employment.