Tourism officials fear for the travel sector as Dublin hotel prices outstrip London and Paris
Tourism Ireland’s Niall Gibbons says the country’s ‘value for money message’ is vital.
TOURISM IRELAND’S BOSS has warned that the country is “under pressure” to remain competitive as a holiday destination as Dublin hotel prices outstrip those in London or Paris.
Addressing a recent Seanad committee on Brexit, Niall Gibbons said an analysis of data from online price comparison sites showed that the Irish capital is among the most expensive cities in Europe for hotel accommodation.
Tourism Ireland compared Dublin hotel prices to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London and Paris across a variety of dates in the upcoming peak season. It found that only Amsterdam was more expensive.
Gibbons also cited data from hotel analysts STR, which recently found that the average daily room rate at an Irish hotel in April was €122, an increase of about 8% compared to the same month last year.
“We need to be mindful of this because we cannot expect to walk into 2017 increasing prices on last year when we have already had approximately 10% to 15% depreciation on currency,” Gibbons told the committee, referring to the post-Brexit pound drop.
A weaker sterling, caused by Brexit jitters, has made Ireland a comparatively pricier travel destination for visiting Britons. It has also made Britain a cheaper holiday spot for mainland Europeans and American tourists.
“Our value for money message is more important than ever in 2017,” Gibbons said.
Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons
‘Mixed picture’
The head of the state-backed body described tourism figures so far this year as “a mixed picture”.
Citing numbers supplied by the Central Statistics Office, Gibbons said visitor numbers from North America, emerging markets and mainland Europe were up in the first four months of 2017, but there was an 8% decline in British visitors.
During the same four-month period, the number of British visitors to Europe has increased, which Gibbons said was a “greater concern”.
“This means that the island of Ireland has lost market share,” he said.
“In fact, we have seen the annual rate of growth in British visitors go from a rise of 8% in 2016 to a drop of 12.4% in the month of April 2017 alone. This is quite a change.”
Gibbons said UK marketing bodies that compete against Tourism Ireland for overseas business have intensified their operations across all of Ireland’s major markets in a bid to capitalise on the pound’s plunge.
He told the committee that Ireland’s “visibility” on the world tourism stage has been falling at a rapid rate in recent years.
“Ireland’s ranking compared to competitor destinations has been falling as well,” he said. “That is a concern for us.”
