The thousands of traditional music fans who came to Ballina this weekend for Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann gave the town a welcome boost, as the peak tourism season draws to a close. According to the chief executive of Moy Valley Resources, Mr Billy Lewis, about 150,000 visitors were expected in the town for the festival.
Most of the available beds in Ballina have been booked out for weeks. By Friday morning people were being directed to accommodation up to 30 miles away. "The bed situation is chronic," he said.
After a poor start to the tourist season in June, the number of continental visitors to the Moy Valley area had picked up in recent weeks. His overall assessment was that it would prove to be a "fair" season, despite what he described as Bord Failte's poor marketing of the west.
Mr Lewis said the Fleadh Cheoil would be worth about £7 million to the local economy. Despite this, Bord Failte had given it only a derisory marketing grant of £2,500, he said. "Ireland does not stop at Dublin."
In general, feedback about the season from tourism interests in the west is mixed. There is a consensus, however, that the number of German and French visitors is down on last year and that Bord Failte is wide of the mark with its 1997 forecast of a 7 per cent increase in numbers and a 9 per cent increase in revenue.
A number of those surveyed point out, however, that the 1996 season was an exceptionally good one for tourism in the west. They say there is no cause for panic, although there is a noticeable downturn in the number of German visitors.
Gaeltacht Irland Reisen, based in Moers, near Dusseldorf, is the second-largest German tour operator in the Irish market. Last year 23,500 Germans came to Ireland through the company.
Its director, Mr Christian Ludwig, said his numbers were probably down 5 per cent on last year, but said that other German operators were experiencing much bigger shortfalls. There were "hundreds of reasons" for the downturn.
He said it would be simplistic to place all the blame on the two most commonly-accepted causes: the weak German economy and the 20 per cent rise in value of the Irish pound against the deutschmark over the past two years.
A more subtle reason for the change, Mr Ludwig said, was the excessive marketing of Ireland in Germany by Bord Failte and Aer Lingus. In every newspaper or magazine one picked up there was an advertisement promoting Ireland as a holiday destination. As a result, Ireland had lost its "special status" among Germans as a place apart, somewhere different.
A cost-per-tourist analysis of the money spent promoting Ireland in Germany would work out at about DM400 per visitor, Mr Ludwig suggested. This was the same as the price of an Aer Lingus return ticket from Dusseldorf or Frankfurt to Dublin. "The money would be better spent if you issued them with a free ticket," he said.
A spokeswoman for Bord Failte said the board was making "no change" on its predictions for 1997, despite the mounting weight of anecdotal evidence of a reduction in business. "We seem to be on target," she said.
Her optimism was not shared by a spokesman for Ireland West Tourism in Galway, Mr Martin Bradley. "Some areas are doing reasonably well. Others, especially rural areas, say they are not doing as well as last year," he said.
According to Mr Bradley, tourism interests in the Clifden area have reported a poor season. The view in Galway city is "mixed", but the Aran Islands are "not doing as well as last year".
Feedback from Mayo suggested the county was "probably holding its own, although some areas are down". The exception was Westport, which was having a good season, he said.
The number of overseas visitors staying in farmhouse accommodation in the west had dropped unexpectedly, when compared to last year.
One foreign exchange operator had reported a downturn in business in the region. "The spend all round doesn't seem to be as good as other years."
Poor access remains a key issue for tourism interests in the west, according to Mr Bradley. He said he still believed the national tourism figures for 1997 would show an increase on last year, but added this would reflect a greater concentration of visitors in the east than before.
"Access to the country is getting more and more focused on the Dublin area. Airlines are selling Dublin more aggressively than they are promoting Shannon." Knock Airport was "holding its own" but Galway Airport was "seriously struggling" because of this imbalance, Mr Bradley said.
The general manager of the Great Southern Hotel on Eyre Square in Galway, Ms Mary McKeon, said that after a slow start in July the hotel was having a reasonably good season.
Bookings for September looked strong, with the annual oyster festivals in the city and in Clarinbridge expected to attract overseas visitors. The strong sterling was also expected to give the season a late boost, especially from the North.
"We are quite pleased with the summer. Galway city has been quite busy, and there are still a great number of international visitors in the city," she said. The increase in the numbers attending the Galway Races this year also proved a boost to tourism in the city.
The general manager of the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway, Mr Tom MacCarthy-O'Hea, said business at the hotel was "on a par" with last year. Much of the Ardilaun's business comes from the corporate sector, which was "very vibrant", and was less affected by the downturn in business from the continent, he said.
The general manager of the Rock Glen Hotel in Clifden, Ms Siobhan Roche, said business was "down a little" compared to last year. "The number of Germans is down, but we have a lot of French and Italians," she said.
She pointed out, however, that last year was an exceptionally good year for tourism in the west. Even allowing for the reduction, the figures looked reasonable for the 1997 season. "It still has been a good year," she said.
The owner of Westport House, Lord Altamont, said his business was thriving, with an overall increase in numbers of 13 per cent this year.
Most of his business is from the domestic market, with family groups forming the largest part. The family segment of the market had shown an "extraordinary" 25 per cent increase, he said.
"Personally, we're very pleased. Different organisations have different markets, and our market is the family market. We're the major family attraction in Connacht," he said.
Westport House caters for approximately 12,000 overnight visitors a year, in self-catering accommodation or in caravans. A "very considerable portion" of these visitors come from Northern Ireland. The increase in this sector was in the order of 21 per cent.
Generally, however, the feeling in the town, especially from those dependent on overseas visitors, was that 1997 would prove a "very disappointing" season, Lord Altamont said.
Many of these tourists found Ireland, particularly the west, too expensive to get to. "I'm sure Bord Failte will pull figures out of the bag which will prove to us all that the numbers are up. If that is the case, they are all going to Dublin. They are certainly not coming to Connacht," he said.
The director of Oideas Gael in the Donegal Gaeltacht, Mr Liam O Cuinneagain, said demand for his language and culture courses had increased strongly again this year, following several years of sustained growth.
The cultural centre in Gleann Cholm Cille attracts Irish-language students from all over the world. It also caters for people wishing to partake in set dancing, bodhran playing, hill walking and other activities.
Ninety-five people were attending courses there last week - including the centre's first student from Latvia - compared with 67 students during the same week last year. "Is e an sceal ceanna e don tseachtain seo chugainn," he said.
Mr O Cuinneagain attended the recent Irish Fest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the largest annual Irish festival in the United States.
The attendance at the Irish Fest usually comes in at about 100,000, but this year it was down slightly at 96,000, he said.
A talking point among tour operators in Milwaukee was the ending of the American Trans Air flights from Chicago to Shannon earlier this year.
ATA offered very competitive rates, with flights between $450 and $500, whereas the Aer Lingus rates were much more expensive.
"People are complaining that Bord Failte is spending millions of pounds on big tourism promotions in the United States, but the flights are too expensive," he said in Irish.
Aer Lingus was operating flights from Chicago to Dublin and on to Shannon for between $900 and $1,000. "Aer Lingus have taken in the Shannon route and they have obviously edged out ATA," he said.
US-based tour operators were angry at the increased prices. A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus dismissed Mr O Cuinneagain' s claims and said the airline's fares were roughly the same as last year.
Aer Lingus had increased the number of its flights to Shannon by 14 per cent this year, with the addition of a new route from the US. The overall passenger numbers flying Aer Lingus to Shannon were up by 8 per cent, she said.