Irish tourism - pity for the tourists.

Hobbes

I brought some Koreans around Ireland to show them around. They loved it however a number of things erked me a lot.

Dublin Bus tour
Pure price gouging at €14 a person. If you had a map and a taxi driver (honest one) you could see more for a hell of a lot less. Even a day/family card is cheaper.

Secondly, one of the guides sounded like they were bored to death. Another was bullsh!tting and another went on as if all Irish would like to see the British dead in a ditch somewhere.

What got me though, on one bus I was translating what she was saying for the others and she stops talking and tells me to shut up (not even close to where she is sitting). I explain I am translating and she gets all snooty saying she is the guide.

Taxi drivers
I take a lot of taxis, however I have never seen such blantant attempts at gouging when I had the Koreans with me. Some things.

#1 Meter running long before we get in. One driver had a nerve to tell me it was the correct thing.

#2 Milking the meter. They try their best get the meter to click over before they stop the car.

#3 "No change". Didn't cop this until after the 4th time. Basically the fare is 2-3 euros short of 20 and they say they have no change. Because the foriegn person doesn't know the area they generally let them keep the change.

I had one a$$hole who put his change in his pocket at the start of the trip and then said he had no change. I went into a shop and made the moron wait 5 minutes intentionally.

#4 "Do you know where you are going?". The next taxi driver to ask me that I'm going to say no. Some SOB drove an American friend all along the coast road from the airport to the city center because of this.

Mary Gibson Tours
I took them to newgrange for a day. It was ok'ish. The prices at newgrange were insane. I don't know how they justify ripping off the tourists.

Anyway that wasn't the issue. I went with Mary Gibson tours and the tour guide annoyed the hell out of me. She was giving reasonable details about newgrange but what was annoying was she kept referring to "England" as "The mainland", she made a crack about how Catholic priests are pedophiles and made out that the phyiscally handicapped are sponging off the state.

West Coast
To be honest, I had a good guide helping me around the west coast so got to see some really great stuff and prices were kept low. They really loved it, and the locals couldn't do enough for us. I have to say I enjoyed it as did the Koreans.

However chatting to some Americans that were there, they mentioned that some places they went to had no prices on anything. One resturant gave them a menu with no prices and the food wasn't the best, but it cost €48 each (that is main meal + coke).

Raskolnikov

I totally agree, I had to bring an American friend around Cork after she spent a few days in Dublin. Some of the stories she told me about getting ripped off by taxi drivers and the places she was staying in were disgusting to hear. Not to mention that, the treatment she got off some of the taxi drivers was outrageous. It's unfortunate that for tourists to enjoy the country that they have to have an Irish person with them to prevent them for getting ripped off.

genie

Are Tourist Offices in Ireland paid by Bord Failte to refer tourists to Bord Failte approved accommodation only?

Furball

To answer a couple of the questions that were raised... I work in a tourist office in Co. Dublin.
~And no, tourist offices are not "paid by Bord Failte". They are independent companies.
All accommodation booked with Tourist Offices in Ireland, has to be Bord Failte approved, otherwise they can't sell it!.
The Dublin Tour buses are expensive, but they are expensive in every city. I was in Barcelona, Rome, and London just this year, and the prices were about the same as Dublin.

genie

All accommodation booked with Tourist Offices in Ireland, has to be Bord Failte approved, otherwise they can't sell it!.

Why is this?

LegacyUser

I was in Barcelona, Rome, and London just this year

Compare each of those Cities to Dublin.

Furball

QUOTE
Compare each of those Cities to Dublin.

Hop on Hop off buses in Dublin cost €14.00 per day.
London €25.00
Rome €12.00
Barcelona €16.00

I rest my case......

Lex_Diamonds

I think what he meant is that the other cities are actually good places to visit.

TomTom

No point in running down our own capital lads, after all I travelling and the amount of people i meet thaqt cant wait to see dublin and that it's there first stop in europe. Also met a few asian tourists (where i live in sydney is very popular with tourists) who had been in ireland a few weeks before and absolutly loved dublin.
You don't learn to really love your country until you leave it

Hobbes

My issue was how badly Dublin rips off the tourists. You notice it more if you are acting as part of a tourist with them.

Compare Dublin buses to other cities.. fine, it still does not detract from the fact compared to Taxi/Dublin bus (normal ticket) the price is insane.

You can get 2 adults / 2 children bus ticket for the day for €7.50. Tour one is 14 euros a person. For my group that is €15 instead of €56. Even if they didn't qualify for ticket, the single day rambler is €5. Making it €20 for my group, still well under half.

If you took bus+Rail tickets it would €11.60 for family pass, making the cost €23.20 for my group, or if they did not qualify for that then €7.70 for adult pass. A total of €30.80. Still well below €56

Dublin tourist office, people were friendly but I did notice one guy came in to ask what bus he should get to go to the Guiness store and the person sold them one of the daily VIP passes which cost a lot more then just going there (which he certainly didn't need).

The pass costs €29 for a day. That is how much the guy paid to just wanting to go to the Guiness store.

Also the toy buses they sell in the tourist office aren't even Irish buses.