Thursday, 4th October 2001

HOTEL FEDERATION CALLS FOR URGENT TOURISM SUPPORT STRATEGY

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) today called for immediate action to be taken by Government to place the Irish tourism industry on a more secure and positive footing for the reminder of 2001, 2002 and beyond. The IHF estimates the downturn of North American visitors to Ireland between now and the end of this year to be over 200,000. This shortfall represents lost revenue in excess of £100 million and will have an enormous negative effect on the cashflow of hotels and guesthouses. This will lead to an earlier closure of businesses in the winter, and resulting job losses. Currently, every £1m overseas tourism spend in Ireland supports 51 jobs.

John Power, Chief Executive, IHF stated that a strategic plan for tourism should be developed to include:

· The Government providing a £5 million special marketing fund dedicated to promoting Ireland, between now and the end of the year, in the markets offering best prospects for delivery in the short to medium term. (i.e., domestic, British and Continental markets).

· The waiving of the Local Authority Rates for the last 3 months of 2001 for hotels and guesthouses where their turnover fell by 15% on last year. (A similar measure was introduced in Northern Ireland to cushion the effects of Foot and Mouth).

· An additional £20m allocated to augment marketing and promotional activities of Tourism Ireland Ltd for the 2002 season.

· Aer Rianta and the port authorities reducing charges to maintain and incentify the increase of access routes and schedules.

"The £5m marketing fund should be immediately allocated to activities aimed at domestic Irish, British and European market between now and year end," said John Power.

"The £20 million fund for Tourism Ireland should be dedicated to rebuilding the US market for Ireland, whilst also setting ambitious targets to achieve incremental growth of our British and European markets. These targets which should be demanding, must be based on a clearly, thought-out strategy to include specific product and regional activities," stressed John Power.

Mr Power maintained that at the same time as implementing this plan, care should be taken to ensure the continued promotion of Ireland in the US market. The current level of promotion in the US should be continued, though, any advertising would have to be done sensitively at the appropriate time.

As the domestic market represents over 50% of hotel room nights, it is fundamental that this market continues to receive attention with substantial promotions. This should be coupled with Bord Fáilte dedicating personnel to promote and re-enforce the call made earlier this year by An Taoiseach to the Social Partners (Government, employers, trade unions, farming and community groups) to use every opportunity to support the Irish tourist industry, and to encourage their associates abroad to hold events in Ireland, particularly during this difficult period.

The IHF maintains that for the foreseeable future it is likely that there will be a greater dependence on Irish, British and European markets and in the case of Britain and Europe, it is vital to develop additional access routes. Air and sea carriers should be facilitated in whatever way necessary to launch new routes.

"The national transport infrastructure should be available to users at as low a cost as possible, particularly at a time when it is necessary to incentify their greater utilisation. There is a case for lowering airport and sea port charges in a bid to boost the numbers travelling. Ireland, as an island, totally depends on the availability of adequate and competitive access by air and sea. It is imperative that, during these difficult times, appropriate measures are in place to maintain the strategic access routes that are so vital," he continued.

"2001 has been a very difficult year for tourism. We believe that the Government should now show the same level of leadership to support the tourist industry and its 150,000 employees, as it showed to agriculture during the Foot and Mouth crisis earlier this year," Mr Power concluded.

FOR INFORMATION:
Siobhan Molloy/Colette Walsh,
FCC Shandwick: Tel:(01) 676 0168 or 086 8175066