IHF President Welcomes CSO Home Holiday Figures
Vote of confidence by consumers in home holiday market

Wednesday 24 May 2006: The Irish Hotels Federation President, Annette Devine, today welcomed the publication of the 4th quarter results of the Central Statistics Office's Household Travel Survey for 2005. The survey showed domestic holiday trips up 6.5% to 3.35 million on 2004 and expenditure on domestic travel up 12% to €1.164 billion.

Welcoming the increase in domestic tourism Ms Devine said “The domestic market is, at present, extremely strong, and is the lifeblood of regional tourism. In the regions domestic tourism accounts for 70-80% of our members business, while in Dublin it accounts for about 34% of business. We are very encouraged by these figures which are a real vote of confidence by consumers in the home holiday market. The increase is reflective of the impact of the combined efforts of the tourism industry and its stakeholders and of the buoyant economy.”

However, the reliance, in the main, on domestic tourism, by the regions in particular is a two edged sword warned Ms. Devine. “Domestic tourism is a key driver of business for many of our members. However, in the long term, to rely so heavily on one market source is an extremely risky strategy. There is a real and urgent need for our industry, in parallel to building the home holiday market, to attract and increase the number of overseas visitor to the regions. Despite increases in recent years of overseas visitors, the number of bednights accruing to overseas visitors in the regions is static and in some cases in decline. The focus on the sustained promotion of regional tourism is vital to building the market for overseas visitors and to avoiding over dependence on one market source” said Ms. Devine.

ENDS

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