The South

Marketing deals were instrumental in boosting tourism in Cork-Kerry, with many hotels in the region offering substantial discounts…

Marketing deals were instrumental in boosting tourism in Cork-Kerry, with many hotels in the region offering substantial discounts, helping tourism to overcome the foot-and-mouth crisis, according to the regional manager of Cork-Kerry Tourism, Mr Con O Conaill.

"The reassurance campaign put a major dent in the expected losses incurred because of the foot-and-mouth scare. We could not have recovered without the additional funding of £10 million. Every effort had to be made to find additional business in order to salvage the situation."

Mr O Conaill said the British market was a difficult one to target because of foot-and-mouth precautionary measures. However, more tourists from Britain had been visiting Ireland's urban centres this summer.

"Obviously the English and American markets were tough this year. Many Americans cancelled their holidays when they heard news of the scare. But the overall damage has not been half as bad as expected."

READ MORE

Mr O Conaill said the marketing programme was far more effective than any compensation package. "In hindsight, we can see that it was far better to spend money on marketing plans to bring in tourists rather than on a compensation package," he said. "But at that stage we didn't know how long the scare was going to last. We were very lucky that it was stamped out in time to allow the industry get back on track."