Why Ireland's so called 'Tourist Industry' is a joke

Judgement Day

Before I start I will preface my piece by saying that I have had years of experience dealing with the big boys in Ireland's tourist industry so this is more than a rant as to why the 46a was 2 minutes late last Wednesday week.

There is so much wrong with Ireland's so called tourism 'product' that it's difficult to know where to start, but I will get the ball rolling with an email that I sent to the Fingal Co.Council and the CEO of Dublin Tourism about the state of Malahide Castle. Despite my emails being sent on the 27/9/10 I have yet to receive anything more than holding emails. The contents of my letter and replies below - and I would welcome your comments before I post further on this thread.

Sent to the Chairman Fingal Co.Council
and the CEO Dublin Tourism

Fry Model Railway Museum

Dear Mr. O'Connor,

I visited the Fry Museum on Sunday last (26/9/10) with my two small children. As is the case with outings involving small children, availability of toilets is an important consideration in the planning process. The toilets at the Fry Museum, which we were in a very poor condition on my previous visit several years ago, were marked out of use (I think) as the notice outside the toilet block was so old as to be illegible.

The Model Exhibition itself is tired after many years in constant use and the whole visitor experience badly needs something to freshen it up. The souvenir shop was poorly stocked but that has been the case for many years. I understand from the very helpful member of staff at the ticket desk that there has been no proper manager of the museum since John Dunne retired and it shows!

On enquiring about toilets she directed us to the Castle but sadly the toilets there were in poor condition and the cubicle that I brought my sons into had the seat hanging off! I would have photographed it for you but as the toilets were busy I did not wish people to think I was some sort of pervert. Anyway, it is just not good enough for what should be one of the Capital’s leading tourist attractions.

In terms of cleanliness and general condition the Castle toilets compared very unfavourably with Eddie Rockets in South Anne Street which we had occasion to use later in the day. There, taps, soap dispensers and hand dryers didn't have to be handled and the whole place in spotless condition - with a cleaning roster displayed on the wall. The broken toilet seat is particularly unforgiveable and as someone who has run a similar venture I can assure such things should be repaired within 24 hours.

As an aside, I find it almost inconceivable in a country which aspires to having a tourist industry, that a museum on the doorstep of the Capital remains closed up for six months of the year!

I would be interested in your comments.

Yours sincerely,

The reply from Dublin Tourism:

Thank you for your email. I am out of the office on Monday, September 27th, 2010 and will reply to your enquiry on my return.

For immediate assistance, please contact my colleague, Robert Nicholson, at the Dublin Writers Museum on 01-872-2078 or 872-2077 or email: writersmuseum@dublintourism.ie or rnicholson@dublintourism.ie

Thank you,

Nyree Landry
Manager, Dublin Tourism Attractions

The masterly, and issue avoiding, reply from Fingal Co.Council

Dear

I wish to acknowledge receipt of your email. In reference to your query regarding Malahide Castle and facilities, these areas are under the management of Dublin Tourism. I will refer your query on to their offices. (Dublin Tourism, Tourism Centre, Suffolk Street , Dublin 2 Tel: 01 605 7700)
If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me at this email address.

Yours sincerely
Maeve Egan
County Managers Office

---

The confusion about who actually is responsible for Malahide Castle goes right down to the staff on the ground who are incapable of answering this question themselves. Two years ago when I rang Dublin Tourism to complain about the, now closed, toilets nonbody there could tell me the name of their CEO - I kid you not!

Dublin Tourism are something of a shambles anyway and another recent experience I had with them involved me delivering a copy of a publication that I publish to their main office in Andrews Street. I delivered it over the counter rather than trusting it to An Post and, guess what, it never reached the intended recipient. More emails followed and finally I just gave up with them. I have a vast amount more to post on this subject but I will wait for some other posts first. Come on - something positive will do - if there's anything positive. :rolleyes:

Amhran Nua

I'd definetely agree that tourism in Ireland is a vastly underused resource. We have a lot to offer culturally, but the tourism board seems almost ashamed to take advantage of that, instead marketing the country as a great place for stag nights from the UK. Of course this a more general observation than your specific ones, but it still holds true.

mikemac

Judgement Day wrote: »

As an aside, I find it almost inconceivable in a country which aspires to having a tourist industry, that a museum on the doorstep of the Capital remains closed up for six months of the year!

When I read this I thought maybe the Castle and grounds are still privately owned and this could explain it.

But no, it passed to the Irish State in 1975.

murphaph

This is where your hard earned tax euros go folks. Is DT a quango or part of a govt department?

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

What I don't get - why are a lot of tourist attractions closed on Sundays??

mikemac

Maybe staff are due premium rates on Sundays so it's not viable.
I'm not saying tourist attractions need to make a profit, many won't but they do have a budget and they can't make it work

Fat_Fingers

BearNecessities wrote: »

What I don't get - why are a lot of tourist attractions closed on Sundays??

Unions

murphaph

Yup, in Germany stuff like this is usually closed on a Monday, but open all through the weekend when tourist numbers are high. In Berlin there's also a "long night of the museum" in which all participating museums open all night twice a year with a special bus service that visits all of them. You buy a ticket and hop on hop off type thing. It's very popular. Would Irish unions allow this like their German counterparts I wonder?

ardmacha

Would Irish unions allow this like their German counterparts I wonder?

Well everything was open late on Culture Night and among other things I visited Dublin Castle and the Custom House between 6pm and 9pm.

Fair play to the OP for complaining, there is no excuse for a dirty bog.

Judgement Day

Lots more to come from me on this thread when I get time. For now I turn to another of my pet hates which I was involved with in at the planning stages - The Queenstown Story. This project which received large amounts of EU funding has failed to live up to the original proposals for the scheme and today consists of a 'visitor centre',the ubiquitous cafe and souvenir shop. I recently had reason to visit their website http://www.cobhheritage.com/ which is fairly amateurish, full of spelling errors and not updated for quite some time. Not what one would expect for one of the - theoretically - most important visitor attractions in the country but more like a local community effort. And, look at the number of hits on the site!!! Anybody been there?

ardmacha

There is a broader point here. Tourism brings money into the country, often circulates in parts of the country with little industry. There are many initiatives possible to improve the "product" and many of these do not cost huge amounts of money. Whether it be signposting or clean jacks these improvements are easier than some of the "big" economic issues and some effort should be made to do these things that are very achieveable.

Apart from the state of exhibits like Malahide or Cobh, if you go to Tripadviser it is full of threads about people visiting Ireland feeling ripped off by car hire firms. Now there may be reasons for high car hire prices, short season, bad American drivers.... But it is clear that car hire companies are unclear in their charges and some regulation is needed to ensure this clarity. I'd require them to offer a regulated package with most things included and a clear statement of what is not. They could (and should) offer other deals but these would have to be positioned relative to the regulated product.

Absurdum

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

Unions

Care to elaborate?

The museum in question is open on Sundays and bank holidays. Malahide Castle and Demesne are open 7 days a week, 362/3 days a year.

Kilmainham Gaol, Dvblinia, Dublin Castle, Trinity College and most of the top tourist attractions are open 7 days a week during the peak season.

Judgement Day

Absurdum wrote: »

Care to elaborate?

The museum in question is open on Sundays and bank holidays. Malahide Castle and Demesne are open 7 days a week, 362/3 days a year.

Kilmainham Gaol, Dvblinia, Dublin Castle, Trinity College and most of the top tourist attractions are open 7 days a week during the peak season.

The Fry Model Railway Museum is closed for 6 months of the year and, incidentally, I still have to hear from anybody in relation to my 'query' as they so quaintly put it in their reply to my complaint about the closed toilets and broken bog!

katkin

The Irish Tourism industry is a joke because there has been very little investment in preserving our material culture. We have way too many groups involved in our heritage - the OPW, the Heritage Council and local authorities in the main. Duchas was great because it brought all aspects of our culture and environment under one body, but it was broken up by FF creeps worried about the power this one body might have. Bord Failte are so lame, that bloody ad over the summer about holidaying in Ireland with those fecking banshees roaring in the background - very unimaginative and uninspiring and doesn't represent our country at all. Hate to say it but look at Britain, the National Trust there is fantastic. What we have here are crumbling ruins with no access or interpretation and decaying artefacts in run down museums - with maybe one or two honeypot sites designed to fleece tourists. If the govt are serious about attracting tourists to this country they need to consider what draws them and focus on providing access and quality experiences of our culture, because at present our ancient sites and artefacts are neglected and poorly marketed.

MrMatisse

We also dont have a really great tourist attraction, yeah there is the scenery but if your under 35 thats just boring, the adventure tourism which we do is poor in the main and aimed at the lower end of the market.

mal1

Judgement Day wrote: »

The Fry Model Railway Museum is closed for 6 months of the year and, incidentally, I still have to hear from anybody in relation to my 'query' as they so quaintly put it in their reply to my complaint about the closed toilets and broken bog!

The failure to answer a query, is that the reason why the Tourist Industry is a joke? If this is the benchmark for being a joke then there's going to be a lot more than the tourist industry fitting the bill. I was expecting something more substantial when I read the thread title.

Absurdum

Judgement Day wrote: »

The Fry Model Railway Museum is closed for 6 months of the year and, incidentally, I still have to hear from anybody in relation to my 'query' as they so quaintly put it in their reply to my complaint about the closed toilets and broken bog!

Fair enough, it's not for me to defend their poor facilities and communications. I would imagine their six month closure is based on costs, it's a little off the beaten track for passing tourists to be dropping in to.

katkin

@ Really Stressed. You're right in one way- we don't have sun, sea or sand, and we don't have great shopping or cities, so all we have really is the scenery and our heritage and that's our selling point. If we could attract tourists interested in this type of thing great, and if they're older even better, they might spend more. People generally come to Ireland because they have roots here or for the "unspoiled" scenery and culture, so that needs preserving.

mal1

Just noticed that the compliant was sent to the Chairman Fingal Co.Council
and the CEO Dublin Tourism. Come on. If you're serious about your complaint and getting acknowledgment then send it to a prudent recipient.

AlekSmart

Places like the former Arigna Colliery are where we could and should be doing our best to promote.

I visited it last year and found it fascinating,especially as the Guide as a retired employee and well versed in explaining the true meaning of hardship.

http://www.arignaminingexperience.ie/index.htm

I`m unaware of the funding arrangements for the place,but I felt it was in total scale with the area and represented good value too.

gbee

To make one comment about the Cobh Heritage Centre, despite Cobh receiving a good liner trade in the summer, almost all the alighting passengers are whipped away by bus to Blarney Castle and almost none actually visit the centre.

A comment in a US tourist magazine mentioned that Ireland was not worth visiting any more as it has lost it cultural identity with all the service industry, restaurants, hotels, shop, guest houses being staffed by east europeans.

The comment says it's better to directly to Latvia, Lithuania or Poland where one gets the real thing and at a fraction of the price.

I'm sure we'll see the tourist figures soon enough for this season to see if the article had any negative effect. We'd need to compare that, obviously with any increase to the other countries.

maninasia

feelingstressed wrote: »

Maybe staff are due premium rates on Sundays so it's not viable.
I'm not saying tourist attractions need to make a profit, many won't but they do have a budget and they can't make it work

If they can't make it work...CHANGE IT.

1squidge

A couple of months ago there was a birdfair at rutland in England. At this event there were thousands of people present. At this Birdfair there were many stalls from different tourism bodies from around the world trying to attract Business. I emailed Discover Ireland as to why there was no representative trying to promote Birding holidays in Ireland which is big business in many countries. To date I have not received an answer. So when I see tourism bodies on the rte news whinging about lack of tourists in this country I think to myself its because your not doing your job. Maybe a birding fair in England just wasnt exotic enough for our hard pressed tourism chiefs.

Judgement Day

mal1 wrote: »

Just noticed that the compliant was sent to the Chairman Fingal Co.Council
and the CEO Dublin Tourism. Come on. If you're serious about your complaint and getting acknowledgment then send it to a prudent recipient.

Sorry don't understand your point.

Judgement Day

mal1 wrote: »

The failure to answer a query, is that the reason why the Tourist Industry is a joke? If this is the benchmark for being a joke then there's going to be a lot more than the tourist industry fitting the bill. I was expecting something more substantial when I read the thread title.

Well why don't you trying reading the thread then - it's more than about a complaint about toilets. However, the state of the toilets and the response to my complaint are symptomatic of all that is wrong in the industry.

Judgement Day

Back in the early 1990s when I was applying for grants for various EU tourism grants one of the main stipulations was that you had to be able to show how many additional overseas visitors you were going to attract to Ireland. Bord Failte who oversaw most of these funding applications made it very hard for most small operators to access grants whereas they approved numerous applications by promoters of interpretative centres. The last project I was associated with (the now semi-defunct Cavan & Leitrim Railway) could prove that people came to the country specifically to visit our type of attraction but I would be interested to know how places such as the Corlea Trackway


The Corlea Trackway - Another of Charlie Haughey's legacies!

and the Lismore Experience met these requirements. Incidentally, the Lismore Experience website here: http://www.discoverlismore.com/heritagecentre.shtml is still displaying their rates for 2008 - perhaps prices haven't changed!! Comments?

The country is blighted with poor quality interpretative centres while our real heritage is left to rot. The canals, despite all the recent hullabaloo about the reopening of the Royal Canal, attract a fraction of the visitors that they should and there now seems to be a raft of bureaucracy looking after them, from the OPW, Waterways Ireland and various voluntary bodies. Our National Transport Museum is in a haybarn and many of the items preserved over the years by other bodies have now ended up in private hands and as freak shows around the country. Our architectural heritage now has so many bodies involved that it is hard to keep track of who is doing what and where.....

Liam Byrne

katkin wrote: »

@ Really Stressed. You're right in one way- we don't have sun, sea or sand

????

http://www.google.ie/images?q=ireland+beaches&hl=en&prmd=ivm&source=lnms&tbs=isch:1&ei=Tte6TOHOFI2OjAeQ6vTQDg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&sqi=2&ved=0CBIQ_AU&biw=1024&bih=515

murphaph

Judgement Day wrote: »

The country is blighted with poor quality interpretative centres while our real heritage is left to rot. The canals, despite all the recent hullabaloo about the reopening of the Royal Canal, attract a fraction of the visitors that they should and there now seems to be a raft of bureaucracy looking after them, from the OPW, Waterways Ireland and various voluntary bodies. Our National Transport Museum is in a haybarn and many of the items preserved over the years by other bodies have now ended up in private hands and as freak shows around the country. Our architectural heritage now has so many bodies involved that it is hard to keep track of who is doing what and where.....

Agreed 100%.

I and my GF are just back from a week's holiday in Ireland. As usual I was dissappointed at the twee bullsh!t nature of what passes for tourist attractions in Ireland. Really useful things for tourists (like accurate signposting, MOTORWAY REST AREAS WITH FECKING TOILETS LIKE THE REST OF THE CIVILISED WORLD and general information) still don't exist in many places and the countryside has of course been well and truly destroyed with the massive quantities of one off houses that have been "erected" in recent years-there is very little if any true wilderness left in Ireland in 2010, there's almost always a sh!tty looking McMansion or bungalow in sight.

I only go there to see my family really and it's my German GF who wants to go look at things. The comment above about a couple of honeypot attractions and everything else being extremely mundane and downright dated, hits the nail right on the head. I really wonder what many visitors from the likes of the States or Australia who pay big money to get to Ireland actually make of it.

The point about the service industry being full of foreign labour IS valid. Americans etc. do not come to Ireland to be served by polish staff (no disresepect to them, they are often better than the Irish at the actual job and are just as friendly IMO). Perhaps hoteliers and resteraunters need to realise that they are not sunning a Spar shop in a Dublin industrial estate and that their market WANTS Irish staff to serve them. We went to Waterville on Tuesday (wanted to catch a boat to the Skelligs) and there was one shop open at 10.30 am, no cafe or anything like that. The shop was staffed by (nice and friendly) polish workers but again, in a tourist area like the Ring of Kerry, there are lots of erm, tourists!

So, from Waterville we drove to Ballinskelligs as we had read in our guide book that boats depart from there for the islands. We (eventually) found the harbour and of course there was absolutely NO SIGNAGE from the boat operator to be seen anywhere. Totally amateur nonsense which even I found hard to believe.

The journey on to Cahirciveen was plagued with a lack of directional signage despite being a highly popular tourist spot. Symptomatic of an amateur country I suppose.

katkin

Liam Byrne wrote: »

????

http://www.google.ie/images?q=ireland+beaches&hl=en&prmd=ivm&source=lnms&tbs=isch:1&ei=Tte6TOHOFI2OjAeQ6vTQDg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&sqi=2&ved=0CBIQ_AU&biw=1024&bih=515

Ya stupid comment, meant like you know beaches you'd be lying on frying. But ya we've plenty of sea and sand, and a bit of sun.

Judgement Day

Grace Court, Dromod, Co.Leitrim - back in the mid-1990s an EU funded consultants report recommended that the rather pretty field that once existed here be used as a site to develop a narrow gauge museum connected to the adjacent Cavan & Leitrim Rly depot. Today apart from being a monument to poor architecture which makes no attempt to blend with the landscape, it appears to be largely a 'zombie' estate with houses being sold by the receiver for as little as €75,000. :rolleyes:


The C&L locomotive shed can be seen in background - left corner.

http://maps.google.ie/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=dromod+count+leitrim&sll=53.401034,-8.307638&sspn=7.367271,19.753418&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Dromod,+Drumod,+County+Leitrim&ll=53.860761,-7.914995&spn=0.000895,0.002411&z=19&layer=c&cbll=53.860744,-7.914945&panoid=RLz-zUDzeyj4hNbY5D9hKw&cbp=12,325.63,,0,5.1

Judgement Day

Meanwhile down the road at Elphin in County Roscommon, a bull**** Model Railway Village (LittleElph) which was being pushed by British consultants before I left Leitrim in 1998 appears to have been approved - again! See here: http://www.goelphin.com/ If this model railway village is anything like the fiasco at Clonakilty it should not receive a cent in EU or other public funding. Clonakilty has to be seen to be believed.

A couple of Trip Advisor reviews here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g211877-d216077-r77540355-West_Cork_Model_Railway_Village-Clonakilty_County_Cork.html#REVIEWS



An ex.Sugar Company diesel shunting locomotive garishly painted up as a 'steam' engine - note the driver painted in the cab window - preservation Irish style!



Even the 'preserved' post office box and telephone kiosk carry awful liveries which are completely incorrect.

xavidub

We have a national inability to keep public access toilets clean. I have seen cleaner public toilets in Russia and Nepal than I do in Ireland. We don't even seem to understand why it's important.

keithclancy

xavidub wrote: »

We have a national inability to keep public access toilets clean. I have seen cleaner public toilets in Russia and Nepal than I do in Ireland. We don't even seem to understand why it's important.

Charge 50 cent to go to the Toilet, use it to pay someone to clean/watch over them and they'll improve.

AlekSmart

Charge 50 cent to go to the Toilet, use it to pay someone to clean/watch over them and they'll improve.

Sadly Keith,they will not.

A colleague of mine had a rather fragrant experience recently whilst operating a Bus in Dublin.

Having taken a group of young "ladies" on board earlier in the journey he was alerted by another passenger to some "messing" down the back of the bus upstairs.

Turns out to have been a communal urination by the "Ladies" before they headed of to a city centre nightspot.

The stench alone was enough for the Bus to be taken out of service and subject to a deep clean procedure....but of equal interest was the amount of empty "mineral" bottles left behind by the young "Ladies".

I`m afraid a 50c charge won`t alter the attitudes of these "Ladies" at all....however being identified and handed a bucket,mop and some strong smelling disinfectant might achieve some result,especially if their work was video recorded for posterity...and U-Tube !

Augmerson

It's sad stuff to hear and I do feel a little embarressed. We have an amazing heritage.

Let's just put the Germans in charge of everything. Atleast they are efficient.

Judgement Day

Dear

Thank you for your email, our Chief Executive responded to your email on 29 September and I am not sure why you did not receive it, apologies for this and please find copy of his reply below.

---

Thank you for your email and regret your unsatisfactory experience at the Fry Model Railway.

The toilets in the courtyard you refer to are public toilets and not under our control and are intended for use by all visitors to the Park. They have been closed for some time and consequently there is a big demand for the toilet facilities in the Castle.

There is a cleaner on duty all day Sunday in the Castle and the toilets are checked at regular intervals and time sheets on the back of the door are signed off accordingly. The toilet seat is being replaced today.

I agree that the Exhibition needs to be upgraded but we do not have the resources to do so in these difficult times and we are not in a position to appoint a manager as there is an embargo on recruiting new staff. However, we endeavour to provide a high level of service with the resources we do have and therefore am dismayed by the content of your letter.

We have opened in winter months in the past and our experience was very low visitor numbers and to open all year round would mean running the Attraction at a considerable loss. As it is we just about break even in the months that we are open.

Thank you again for taking the time to write to me.

Kind regards,

Frank Magee

---

Maria O'Callaghan
Sales Manager
Dublin Tourism Attractions
Malahide Castle
Malahide
County Dublin

keithclancy

AlekSmart wrote: »

Sadly Keith,they will not.

A colleague of mine had a rather fragrant experience recently whilst operating a Bus in Dublin.

Having taken a group of young "ladies" on board earlier in the journey he was alerted by another passenger to some "messing" down the back of the bus upstairs.

Turns out to have been a communal urination by the "Ladies" before they headed of to a city centre nightspot.

The stench alone was enough for the Bus to be taken out of service and subject to a deep clean procedure....but of equal interest was the amount of empty "mineral" bottles left behind by the young "Ladies".

I`m afraid a 50c charge won`t alter the attitudes of these "Ladies" at all....however being identified and handed a bucket,mop and some strong smelling disinfectant might achieve some result,especially if their work was video recorded for posterity...and U-Tube !

Christ almighty.

Seriously though, just pointing out that here in Holland and in Germany its normal to pay to use a toilet in a pub/restaurant and their usually always clean.

Absurdum

A lot of German motorway service areas charge 50c to use the bathroom, but they give you a voucher which can then be redeemed in-store. The auto-self-cleaning jacks are amazing too.

maninasia

keithclancy wrote: »

Christ almighty.

Seriously though, just pointing out that here in Holland and in Germany its normal to pay to use a toilet in a pub/restaurant and their usually always clean.

Yep, there is no point having a free but dirty facility one would not use. Better to pay a little if it is maintained properly.

flutered

what about a hotel that refuses c.c. cash or a cheque made out to the owner, also the staff paid cash in the hand.

Judgement Day

What about a recently opened 4 star hotel whose owners threatened their staff with dismissal if they joined a union? The same hotel where breakfast was cooked in the wee small hours of the morning and reheated at breakfast time and the uneaten sausages/rashers etc refrozen for the next morning. The hotel where food was frequently picked up off the kitchen floor and put back on plates. The hotel where mattresses that had been urinated on by drunk guests were not cleaned but left up against radiators until dry. Where fire exits were routinely blocked by laundry trollies. I could go on but I suspect that the four star hotel where I worked was/is far from unique in the Irish tourism product.

Rockery Woman

Judgement Day wrote: »

What about a recently opened 4 star hotel whose owners threatened their staff with dismissal if they joined a union? The same hotel where breakfast was cooked in the wee small hours of the morning and reheated at breakfast time and the uneaten sausages/rashers etc refrozen for the next morning. The hotel where food was frequently picked up off the kitchen floor and put back on plates. The hotel where mattresses that had been urinated on by drunk guests were not cleaned but left up against radiators until dry. Where fire exits were routinely blocked by laundry trollies. I could go on but I suspect that the four star hotel where I worked was/is far from unique in the Irish tourism product.

Thats disgusting! Did they not have waterproof covers on the mattresses? For Gods sake its 2010! People expect a good standard nowadays. If we cant compete with the rest of Europe in accomodation there is no hope for our flagging tourist industry.

I worked in a restaurant 15 years ago and similar things happened in the kitchen, food was regularly "recycled". Im surprised things like this are still commonplace Judgement Day but obviously its still happening!:mad:

kuntboy

Come on guys it's Ireland what did you expect? Professionalism? lol. We are the laughing stock of the world.

padrepio

Surely surfing should be marketed more heavily - it isnt weather dependent and we have serious natural resources for it. I always think somewhere like Shannon airport should subsidise the cost of hiring a car. Lets be honest buses etc are terrible. Having a car would encourage tourists to drive around the country more stopping off at several locations. The common complaint from tourists is the prohibitively and ridiculous cost of public transport. Can we not link in with some EU wide travel ticket thing?

The tourist industry in Ireland is poor value for money. We seem to attract frugal Europeans sharing glasses of Guinness on bus tours rather that promoting Ireland as an island to explore. There are some unreal sites in Ireland - was in Dun Aenghus last year in the Aran Island. It was a nice day granted but the scenery was breataking. We need to promote that more.

maninasia

Spot on. I have identified cycling holidays as huge potential for Ireland, just need to put in more cycle lanes on those disused railways. Marketing Ireland can only go so far, you've got to have good product to market though.

parsi

keithclancy wrote: »

Charge 50 cent to go to the Toilet, use it to pay someone to clean/watch over them and they'll improve.

My experience from years of holidaying in France is that the paid-for toilets are top-notch but the free ones are terribly hit-and-miss (judging by their state it was more often miss than hit).

Takes two important tourist centres- St Malo has many paid-for toilets which are of an extremely good standard, however in Roscoff they are free and show it.

bamboozle

maninasia wrote: »

Spot on. I have identified cycling holidays as huge potential for Ireland, just need to put in more cycle lanes on those disused railways. Marketing Ireland can only go so far, you've got to have good product to market though.

i've cycled all round ireland despite the many attempts by bus drivers everywhere to run me off the road with their idiotic driving. Ireland would be excellent for cycling holidays if your average irish driver paid the slightest bit of attention to cyclists & if tourists were able to transport bikes on all of our rail system, many routes dont all bikes.

maninasia

I'm aware of the issues also. It just points out to me that you've got to have the quality product there first before you market it. No use 2 or 3 tourist agencies promoting something that is not right in the first place.

oppenheimer1

Judgement Day wrote: »

What about a recently opened 4 star hotel whose owners threatened their staff with dismissal if they joined a union? The same hotel where breakfast was cooked in the wee small hours of the morning and reheated at breakfast time and the uneaten sausages/rashers etc refrozen for the next morning. The hotel where food was frequently picked up off the kitchen floor and put back on plates. The hotel where mattresses that had been urinated on by drunk guests were not cleaned but left up against radiators until dry. Where fire exits were routinely blocked by laundry trollies. I could go on but I suspect that the four star hotel where I worked was/is far from unique in the Irish tourism product.

If you saw that then why don't you name it...

Judgement Day

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

If you saw that then why don't you name it...

I have to live in the locality and can easily be identified from my posts here. As I said I suspect my hotel was far from unique. In my experience a 'good' B+B offers a freshly cooked breakfast and a more personal/reliable service than a 'zombie' hotel. That said, in recent years I have stayed in a number of Irish B+Bs that also fail to reach an acceptable level. Our tourist industry is like so much else that's wrong with this country in that we believe our own PR and are under the illusion that we offer a wonderful product.

Judgement Day

It just gets worse! I haven't been able to verify this report: http://irishrailwaymodeller.yuku.com/topic/201/Fry-Model-Railway but based on my recent visits I'm not surprised. I will be on the case tomorrow and report back here. Something for people to ask the election candidates about? Only in Ireland! :mad:

This rather poor You Tube video is the only one available on the net which says something about the dire marketing of the museum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyiFK5nEKNk