Working collaboratively to accelerate the growth of tourism

enough to withstand the shock. In short, the tourism sector should be supported in a similar manner as is currently occurring in agri-food and other exportled sectors.”

Vision

O’Mara Walsh is emphatic in his suggestion that “the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are not ambitious enough for tourism and do not realise the true potential that tourism has”. The ITIC, therefore, is coming up with a tourism strategy to 2025. “We think that the sector can double its earnings from the overseas market in that period if the right environment and context is established. This is not a matter of the tourism sector lining its pockets, it brings economic benefit to all parts of the island which other industries just cannot do.”

Optimism

But unlike the ash cloud that came and left after three weeks, Brexit is here to stay and there will be a long period of negotiation in the meantime. From our perspective, the Government hasn’t really acknowledged how important tourism is or how vulnerable it can be. Brexit or no Brexit, it should be doing more to support tourism.

“Tourism can’t be outsourced and it can bring jobs to parts of the country that no other industry, including agriculture, can reach. Likewise, FDI isn’t necessarily going to penetrate parts of south Down, west Donegal or rural Cork. Tourism can offer long-term, sustainable, year-round jobs, but it needs to be given the resources required to cultivate an environment within which businesses for flourish.”

Adequate response

In the interim, the ITIC has called for an immediate restoration of funding. “Within a Brexit context, we’ve said that a €12 million injection is required to enable us to consolidate our share of the Great Britain market and diversify into new markets. While this market may be falling within many countries, there’s no reason why it should fall more in Ireland.

“Likewise, any tourism businesses in the border counties, including hotels, restaurants, B&Bs and tourist attractions will see a downturn in trade as a result of Brexit. They need adequate enterprise support to ensure that they are robust

In the context of tourism as a growth segment worldwide the ITIC is optimistic. “People are getting wealthier worldwide and Dublin airport, for example, is likely to become a strategic hub between North America and the European bloc which means that a lot more airline access will come into Dublin, giving us an opportunity to sell Ireland, the whole island, as a holiday destination.

O’Mara Walsh summarises: “The North American market is going great, which is testament to the increased air access that we have and the fact that Ireland is so positively thought of in the States. We just have to be careful that we don’t become overdependent. The thing with the US is that a terror attack, an oil price shock or a dramatic change in dollar/sterling or dollar/euro exchange rate will have a significant impact upon US visitor numbers. They’re a great asset, we welcome them and we hope they come in an increased volume, but it’s vitally important that we diversify and attract business from other markets as well.

“Overall I’m ambitious and positive, and I think there’s a lot more potential to be realised given the right armoury. If you look at all the research around visitor attitudes, peoples’ experience of Ireland are very high, they’d recommend it to a friend, they’d come back and they find the country to be value for money. That’s something we should be proud of.”