Tuesday, 30 th November 2004

GOVT MUST MATCH RYANAIR DRIVE TO DELIVER ON TOURISM

Ryanair’s announcement that it is establishing one of its major European bases at Shannon airport and opening eight new European routes is a tremendous strategic development for Irish air access, the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) today stated. The IHF believes that this development gives hope to tourist interests in the Shannon and Mid West region, who have witnessed a 15% drop in holiday visitors since 1999. The investment by Ryanair of €240m in its Shannon operation is a clear vindication of the Government’s policy to establish Cork and Shannon as autonomous airports and to allow them to actively promote and develop their own growth policies. The IHF added that the commitment shown by Ryanair to increasing Ireland’s air transport access should now be matched by the Government giving immediate go ahead to the development of a competing second terminal at Dublin Airport, so that a similar range of new routes can be developed for the capital.

According to Richard Bourke, President, IHF the potential for inbound tourism to grow and flourish, greatly depends on frequency of access and the opening up of further overseas direct air access links. The current US Ireland air bilateral agreement and the absence of a competing second fast turnaround air terminal at Dublin Airport, were identified in the report of the Government’s Tourism Policy Review Group, as barriers to achieving Ireland’s ambition to double tourism revenue to €6 billion by 2012.

“The renegotiation of the bilateral agreement and giving the go ahead to the new air terminal, would, I believe contribute enormously to achieving the national target to increase overseas visitors from 6 million to 10 million by 2012. There is an obligation on Government, as quickly as possible, to overcome these barriers in the Irish tourism access infrastructure. These are major constrains to tourism and overall economic growth, ” says Richard Bourke. “There has been a 15% drop in nights spent by overseas holiday visitors in areas outside of Dublin since 1999 (from 19.3m nights in 1999 to 16.6m in 2003) and this announcement provides hope that this trend can be reversed. Ryanair and the Shannon Airport Board are to be warmly congratulated on this nationally important decision.”

“Ryanair has single-handedly changed the face of European travel and in turn has been the principal contributor to opening up Ireland as a tourism destination to a myriad of new markets through direct low cost air access routes. Today’s announcement by Ryanair reflects their vision to see Ireland continue to be a destination of choice and they are making this happen with competitive rates and numerous new European access routes,” concludes Mr Bourke.

According to Aileen Phelan, Chairperson of the Shannon Branch IHF, the local industry would welcome partnering with Ryanair in targeted marketing campaigns to further encourage overseas tourists to visit the western seaboard.

“The Shannon region has seen visitors’ numbers and associated room nights incrementally dropping year on year over the last five years. Today’s decision is a tremendous positive boost to the area and it injects great optimism for the future of tourism in our locality,” she said.

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