Ireland's tourism business body has hatched a plan to net the industry an extra €2bn

THE BODY THAT represents Irish tourism businesses has called on the government to put in place a more ambitious target for the hospitality sector over the next decade.

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) has published a dossier on how Ireland could add €2 billion to the sector’s export value by 2025 on top of the current target of €5 billion.

ITIC accused the government of lacking ambition when a policy was introduced last year to bring 10 million overseas visitors to the island by 2025.

“It is clearly evident, due to strong recent growth, that the national targets could be achieved as early as 2017 or 2018,” the dossier said.

Ambition

New data from the CSO showed that nearly nine million overseas visitors came to Ireland from January to November, representing an 11% increase compared to the same 11-month period last year.

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of state marketing body Tourism Ireland, said he only expected visitor numbers to grow by 1% in 2017 and would focus instead on encouraging higher spend from tourists.

“It is high time that more ambitious national targets are put in place for an industry that is so vital to Ireland’s economy,” the ITIC report said.

ITIC set out 10 measures that it claims would “increase the value of tourism export earnings by 50% to €7 billion annually by 2025″ and create 50,000 jobs in the hospitality sector, which it said is suffering from a skills shortage.

Among the recommendations was the restoration of destination marketing budget for Ireland to pre-crash levels, which would require an extra €20 million.

In 2016, Tourism Ireland, the state body responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas, received a budget €53 million. A spokeswoman told Fora that she didn’t expect that figure to change in 2017.

ITIC's 10-point plan

Click here to view a larger version.

Speaking to Fora, ITIC chief Eoghan O’Mara Walsh said, ”There is a commitment in the programme for government that that marketing budget will get restored to its pre-recession levels, which would require a €20 million increase in its budget.

“We think that’s absolutely critical that Ireland remains front of mind and share of voice in our key source markets.”

New tourism brand

ITIC also recommended the development of a new tourism brand for the midlands and Shannon area that falls outside the current Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East initiatives.

Fora reported earlier this year that Fáilte Ireland has put a tender to conduct a feasibility study for what is currently known as ‘Ireland’s Lakelands’, an area that includes east Galway, Leitrim, Roscommon, north Tipperary and north Cork.

The move would see a new tourism brand for areas that fall outside the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East initiatives.

“ITIC would be of the view that the midlands and Shannon area isn’t particularly well served by Ireland’s Ancient East and isn’t naturally part of the Wild Atlantic Way so it needs its own identity to realise its full potential,” O’Mara Walsh said.

ITIC chief Eoghan O'Mara Walsh

Brexit taskforce

The group also wants to see the government set up a Brexit fund to “ensure that Ireland’s market share form Britain is protected” and set up a ‘Brexit tourism taskforce’ to ensure that key tourism interests such as aviation access, the common travel area and cross-border cooperation are secured in future EU-UK trading.

At the announcement of its marketing plans for 2017, Tourism Ireland’s chief Niall Gibbons said that although Britain – Ireland’s main visitor market – will remain an important target next year, the body will ramp up its marketing campaigns in mainland Europe and North America, where it expects to see more robust growth.

O’Mara Walsh said ITIC was positive about tourism in 2017 and hoped to see a 4% to 5% increase in visitor numbers next year, but added that a big concern was currency fluctuations in the British market which makes Ireland more expensive to the UK market by comparison.

“The government has to really step up to the plate in terms of investing in tourism product and infrastructure,” he said.

“A very modest amount is committed to tourism infrastructure each year. If we want new things of scale and international appeal we need a higher product budget.”