Ireland is increasingly being considered an expensive holiday destination, visitors to Dublin tell Alison Healy
Coffee, beer, meals, B&Bs, woollen jumpers, just some of the items tourists reel off when asked if Ireland is expensive.
Ms Terry Pirie from Toronto holidayed here three years ago and returned this week. "We did the B&B route three years ago, and most places were about £20 per night. Now it's from £28 to £38," she said.
"We knew it would be different with the euro, but we didn't know how much more expensive it would be."
Mr Ferdinand Peter from Germany had just begun a three-week holiday, touring the country. He is surprised at the price of beer.
"A small bottle of beer costs €4.50. The same bottle would be €3 in Germany," he said.
He had a salad, a pasta dish and two beers in a Temple Bar restaurant earlier this week. "It was €45. That is too expensive."
One Polish couple who had just arrived in Dublin had already steeled themselves to expect high prices. "Our guidebook says it is quite an expensive country, so we shall see," they said.
Asked what was expensive here, Ms Vivian Gomez said: "Everything".
She is from Fort Lauderdale in the United States but had come from Spain where everything was much cheaper.
"For example, we had an espresso here and it was double the price of espresso in Spain. Our hotel is almost double the price of the hotel in Spain." She said the high prices were not justified by the quality on offer.
"You could spend €80 in a very expensive restaurant in Spain, but for that quality in Ireland you would have to spend €100 to €130. But it is a very beautiful country, and you have to be proud of it."
Ms Eiwor Englund from Sweden had visited the Waterford Crystal factory on the previous day and thought it was very expensive.
"Yes, but I bought something anyway," she said.
Her companion said the currency situation did not favour Swedish visitors as the krona rate was very weak. Another travelling companion had just spent €7.62 on a pair of "Ireland" socks and felt it was a bit expensive.
Tourists should shop around, according to Ms Pam Lubing from Pennsylvania.
She saw some "really expensive" woollen jumpers in one shop but bought them for much less in another outlet.
Otherwise, she did not find it very expensive.
"We were in McDonald's and that was about the same as at home."
There is no great tourist rip-off going on, according to Mr Brendan Leahy, chief executive of the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC).
He said the increasing prices were the result of living in a high-cost economy. Service-providers were faced with increased labour costs, insurance and general cost base.
In trying to keep the prices down, operators were losing some of their margin, he said. This was making an already difficult tourist season even worse.
The ITIC is waiting for the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, to respond to its request for a €20 million rescue package for the industry.
"It's still not too late. We could still target markets such as the UK, for example," Mr Leahy said. "We are still hopeful."