Tourism in Ireland

seanmc1980

Is tourism that big in Ireland???

You always hear people taking about projecting a postivie image of ireland to the world as if touism is the life blood of the country. in reality its only a small industry in ireland.
maybe i'm wrong and someone can show me figures to show how important tourism is to ireland but looking at the top visited countries Ireland seems to pale in comparision

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings

I suppose when you here people talking about get the tourist in to solve the economic crisis it can be a bit annoying

starbelgrade

It's worth over €3 billion a year to the country. Not to be sniffed at.

rgmmg

seanmc1980 wrote: »

Is tourism that big in Ireland???

You always hear people taking about projecting a postivie image of ireland to the world as if touism is the life blood of the country. in reality its only a small industry in ireland.
maybe i'm wrong and someoen can show me figures to show how important tourism is to ireland

Google "Tourism Ireland Revenue"

Naomi00

There was one of these threads last week?


OP,

I live in a 'tourist' town and there's always loads of them here, especially April-September. Maybe where you live is the reason there's no tourists there?

chin_grin

Naomi00 wrote: »

There was one of these last week?

A tourist? WHERE!? GET HIM! GET HIS MONEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!

abouttobebanned

Hard to understand why the ukraine is a more popular tourist destination than Ireland

abouttobebanned

Naomi00 wrote: »

There was one of these last week?

He's gone home now though. Was only here for 4 days...saw the rock of cashel...bought some waterford crystal...had his picture taken next to molly malone...had his "order ready" at Charlies 2...

tacofries

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Hard to understand why the ukraine is a more popular tourist destination than Ireland

Coke and hookers

seanmc1980

starbelgrade wrote: »

It's worth over €3 billion a year to the country. Not to be sniffed at.

i agree its not to be sniffed at but its a bit ignorant when people bandy onabout tourism getting the country out its economic woes

Naomi00

abouttobebanned wrote: »

He's gone home now though. Was only here for 4 days...saw the rock of cashel...bought some waterford crystal...had his picture taken next to molly malone...had his "order ready" at Charlies 2...

Ha, I edited it.

snubbleste

Tourism is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry, contributing almost 4 per cent of gross national product and employing more than 200,000 people http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0217/breaking22.html

That's pretty significant. We cannot depend on multinationals only to provide jobs.

Jester252

Naomi00 wrote: »

Ha, I edited it.

Too bad on the quote front

whistlingtitan

seanmc1980 wrote: »

starbelgrade wrote: »

It's worth over €3 billion a year to the country. Not to be sniffed at.

i agree its not to be sniffed at but its a bit ignorant when people bandy onabout tourism getting the country out its economic woes

They only thing ignorant is your comment no other industry can get us out of this mess as we need external money coming in and with a worldwide ressesion the multinationals aren't / can spend it IT sector is struggling phramas are doing ok exports are doing well but low employment there
that leaves ……… oh yes tourism

Unless you have a great idea

Doc Ruby

Galway would be boned without them. The multinationals and the students make up the rest of the picture round these parts.

Zonda999

Its our biggest industry, enough said, plenty regions of the country have little economic activity but tourism..

getz

whistlingtitan wrote: »

They only thing ignorant is your comment no other industry can get us out of this mess as we need external money coming in and with a worldwide ressesion the multinationals aren't / can spend it IT sector is struggling phramas are doing ok exports are doing well but low employment there
that leaves ……… oh yes tourism

Unless you have a great idea

to be a tourist in ireland,you need to bring your car,public transport is at best poor,to get there from the EU meens two ferrys and a long drive across england ,that makes it expensive,so you are left with the city trippers or the british tourists,many of who are visiting friends and family.but for those who do get over its well worth it,as the natives are friendly,

whistlingtitan

First off most of the tourists coming here come on tours to start with so are bussed around
Few bring there own cars …rental??? Big big business in this country that's why there's so many

Doc Ruby

getz wrote: »

to get there from the EU meens two ferrys and a long drive across england ,that makes it expensive,

Eh?

getz

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Eh?

its even more expensive going direct by britannia ferries, 868 euros return,thats even before you start paying for your food and accomodation ,i was giving the cheepest option

getz

whistlingtitan wrote: »

First off most of the tourists coming here come on tours to start with so are bussed around
Few bring there own cars …rental??? Big big business in this country that's why there's so many

tourists on a bus only go to the tourist trap,and usualy the trip is a all in holiday,the ones that are wanted are those who stop at the towns villages and local pubs and spend money,as far as car hire in ireland,its a well known rip off,i would never recommend anyone to do so.most of the foreign reg tourist cars you will see are eng/scot wales.

ejmaztec

getz wrote: »

to be a tourist in ireland,you need to bring your car,public transport is at best poor,to get there from the EU meens two ferrys and a long drive across england ,that makes it expensive,so you are left with the city trippers or the british tourists,many of who are visiting friends and family.but for those who do get over its well worth it,as the natives are friendly,

You forgot to mention the large suitcase full of cash for the tips.

getz

ejmaztec wrote: »

You forgot to mention the large suitcase full of cash for the tips.

you could do with a few more like me over,guinness sales double in the village i stay

JupiterKid

Hmmm...well there are these things called airplanes strangely enough, they've been around for 100 years and jets for 50 of those years.

The vast majority of tourists coming to Ireland travel in these.

getz

JupiterKid wrote: »

Hmmm...well there are these things called airplanes strangely enough, they've been around for 100 years and jets for 50 of those years.

The vast majority of tourists coming to Ireland travel in these.

thats the ones that never get out of the cities,if your going to spend a weekend in dublin you may as well stay the weekend in any other city in europe,its getting out into the villages that where tourist money is needed. i stay for a month every year and spend a lot,

Doc Ruby

getz wrote: »

its even more expensive going direct by britannia ferries, 868 euros return,thats even before you start paying for your food and accomodation ,i was giving the cheepest option

What are you smoking, Celtic Link just gave me a price of €188 with vehicle.

getz

Doc Ruby wrote: »

What are you smoking, Celtic Link just gave me a price of €188 with vehicle.

your putting out false information,celtic link charge for two people and a car traveling during tourist season,costs an average of 524 euros, your 188 euros is for one tourist in a car traveling in mid january,how many of them do you see visiting ireland in the winter months,but we are going off the thread,tourism in ireland has dropped in the last two years because of costs,even from people from the UK,who provide ireland with more tourists than the rest of the EU put together

hardCopy

getz wrote: »

Doc Ruby wrote: »

What are you smoking, Celtic Link just gave me a price of €188 with vehicle.

your putting out false information,celtic link charge for two people and a car traveling during tourist season,costs an average of 524 euros, your 188 euros is for one tourist in a car traveling in mid january,how many of them do you see visiting ireland in the winter months,but we are going off the thread,tourism in ireland has dropped in the last two years because of costs,even from people from the UK,who provide ireland with more tourists than the rest of the EU put together

Why would anyone from further than France or Britain want to drive here? much easier to fly and rent a car

getz

hardCopy wrote: »

Why would anyone from further than France or Britain want to drive here? much easier to fly and rent a car

the problem is also cost,to hire a small car[toyota 1.0] costs 380 euros per week, inc insurance, a lot more for a larger car,on top of that you have to pay for the cost of the flight,for yourself wife and kids,as well as the cost of the extra baggage,by driving over you can bring all the clothes you need for your holiday ,my son and wife joined my last year in the cottage i was renting,and told me next time he was bringing his own car as it was a lot cheeper.

munchkin_utd

getz wrote: »

your putting out false information,celtic link charge for two people and a car traveling during tourist season,costs an average of 524 euros, your 188 euros is for one tourist in a car traveling in mid january,how many of them do you see visiting ireland in the winter months,but we are going off the thread,tourism in ireland has dropped in the last two years because of costs,even from people from the UK,who provide ireland with more tourists than the rest of the EU put together

A) it hasnt dropped. In 2011 there was a 7% increase in overseas tourist numbers.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1230/1224309632109.html

Ireland is getting progressively more expensive?? From a report a couple of months back, hotel bookings were increasing and average cost per night was reducing
http://www.failteireland.ie/FailteIreland/media/WebsiteStructure/Documents/3_Research_Insights/3_General_SurveysReports/Failte-Ireland-Tourism-Barometer-April-2012.pdf?ext=.pdf

I live in Germany 12 years now. Till about 2 years ago I was proactivly discouraging people from going to Ireland. Crap weather, high prices combined with hotels + hospitalily businesses that were inept, sloppy and to put it bluntly didnt give a crap about customers. Many were only built for tax breaks for the owners so customers were only a minor reason for their existance and it REALLY showed.
Its one thing to charge bonkers prices but roll out the red carpet. Ireland though had bonkers prices and abject service !
Anyhow, the feedback from german friends who visited was so bad (and christ I had nothing but bad experiences myself too during the boom!) that you could only warn others of what to expect.

But in the last 2 years prices have come down to affordable levels in hotel and restaurants and the service you get has improved VASTLY.
Ireland is still not cheap but theres much less chance of nasty surprises nowadays.

seanmc1980

Zonda999 wrote: »

Its our biggest industry, enough said, plenty regions of the country have little economic activity but tourism..

classic point, its not our biggest industry its a subjective figure, please tell me how 3 billion is got to
are you aware Ireland is the 7th largest producer of zinc in the world
Its a massive producer of Pharma
Agri exports...

SellingJuan

I dont see why anyone would want to visit Ireland... From my experience with foreigners who visit they never come back. Why would they, imagine being charged E5 for a pint, imagine veing charged E4 for a cup of coffe and being charged over the moon prices for any tourist attraction.

munchkin_utd

SellingJuan wrote: »

I dont see why anyone would want to visit Ireland... From my experience with foreigners who visit they never come back. Why would they, imagine being charged E5 for a pint, imagine veing charged E4 for a cup of coffe and being charged over the moon prices for any tourist attraction.

for foreigners a pint isnt a fiver
they drink Guinness which in my local at home is 3.25 a pint ! My wifes local just out cork city is that for Beamish and 50c more for Guinness or Murphys.

Its the Irish eejits who are the most brand concious nation in the world who buy schlop like Bud and (irish) heineken for the fiver a pint who end up getting ripped off.

And a fiver a pint anyhow is (unfortunately) not an inordinate amount of money to pay and you'll pay similar and often substantially more in any other large european or US city.

Doc Ruby

getz wrote: »

your putting out false information,celtic link charge for two people and a car traveling during tourist season,costs an average of 524 euros, your 188 euros is for one tourist in a car traveling in mid january

Fri 22 Jun 2012 dep. 2200, arr. 1300 on CELTIC HORIZON

€188
Of course its for one person with vehicle, if you specifiy a convoy of families it gets more expensive. You quoted just south of a grand for ferry travel over and back, that's complete tripe. End of story.

getz wrote: »

how many of them do you see visiting ireland in the winter months,but we are going off the thread,tourism in ireland has dropped in the last two years because of costs,even from people from the UK,who provide ireland with more tourists than the rest of the EU put together

Costs are a problem, I'm not arguing that, just saying your ferry example was wrong. Then again costs are a problem everywhere unless you're visiting poor countries in Eastern Europe or Asia.

The government should be doing a lot more to showcase our heritage to be honest, putting some serious money into archaeology would be a good start there. Maybe focus on a few good sporting events, really build them up.

SellingJuan

munchkin_utd wrote: »

for foreigners a pint isnt a fiver
they drink Guinness which in my local at home is 3.25 a pint ! My wifes local just out cork city is that for Beamish and 50c more for Guinness or Murphys.

Its the Irish eejits who are the most brand concious nation in the world who buy schlop like Bud and (irish) heineken for the fiver a pint who end up getting ripped off.

And a fiver a pint anyhow is (unfortunately) not an inordinate amount of money to pay and you'll pay similar and often substantially more in any other large european or US city.

Well I have never ever seen a pint on guinness for less than 4.50... I dont know what neck of the woods you are in but a pint in Dublin is 5.50... "more in other large european or US city" haha are you being serious? That is the most outlandish statement I have ever heard haha!! I bet you are one of those people who are running a small rip of business and you are trying to justufy this outragous price :O

"Eejits"... My beer of choice is Bud.. Why because I bloody well like it!! I should not be limited to guinness.. IT MOST CERTAINLY ISNT SCHOLP.

Then again I could be wrong, you might not be running a small rip off business.. You are probably one of those croneys up in the dail, who tries to justify and increase in price of gasoline, because with your "expences" it wont affect you. Unlike the rest of the country.

mikemac1

Getting very personal there Juan

And you can certainly find Guinness around Ireland for less then 4.50
Have a weekend away for yourself, see more of the country

Helix

starbelgrade wrote: »

It's worth over €3 billion a year to the country. Not to be sniffed at.

could be worth a lot more if they were in any way competent about promoting it

Helix

SellingJuan wrote: »

"more in other large european or US city" haha are you being serious?

you'll pay about $7-10 in some places in toronto, and sweden it's about €10-12 a pint so im told. believe it or not, ireland is relatively cheap compared to some places for booze

crusher000

I live in a tourist town and one pub does all pints for 3 euro all week and at weekends 3 course meals for 18.95. When we shout rip of Irleand ourselves enough people will believe it and say we're expensive. Go to any where in europe and hit the tourist spots. guess what they're expenisve. Come of the beaten track a bit and you'll get better value for money

munchkin_utd

crusher000 wrote: »

I live in a tourist town and one pub does all pints for 3 euro all week and at weekends 3 course meals for 18.95. When we shout rip of Irleand ourselves enough people will believe it and say we're expensive.<snip>

Thing is though thats only recently that theres such deals. But the hangover from previous times is hard to shake.

3 years ago though there were no deals. Not in gastronomy. Not in hotels. Not in Pubs. Not even in supermarkets. There was so much money floating round in Irish peoples pockets that the entire service and retail industry charged what they wanted to price insensitive irish people as nobody cared what anything costed in the slightest.

Now though is completely different and I'll be spending 5 weeks in Ireland this summer and looking forward to the reasonable value for money that Ireland now offers.

getz

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Fri 22 Jun 2012 dep. 2200, arr. 1300 on CELTIC HORIZON
€188
Of course its for one person with vehicle, if you specifiy a convoy of families it gets more expensive. You quoted just south of a grand for ferry travel over and back, that's complete tripe. End of story.


Costs are a problem, I'm not arguing that, just saying your ferry example was wrong. Then again costs are a problem everywhere unless you're visiting poor countries in Eastern Europe or Asia.

The government should be doing a lot more to showcase our heritage to be honest, putting some serious money into archaeology would be a good start there. Maybe focus on a few good sporting events, really build them up.

tourists who come over by ferry usualy are married with at least one child,travel during high peak time[kids on school holidays] even with a small car in june it costs at least 486 euros,you are only quoting a one way passage for one person.i know you want them to stay or swim home

munchkin_utd

getz wrote: »

tourists who come over by ferry usualy are married with at least one child,travel during high peak time[kids on school holidays] even with a small car in june it costs at least 486 euros,you are only quoting a one way passage for one person.i know you want them to stay or swim home

With young kids you need a car if you are from down the country, which is the case with both myself and the mrs. Even to use the parents car is impractical as you cant fit 4 adults and 2 kids into a 5 seater car if you want to do anything more than sit at home all day for your holidays!!

Am driving myself from Germany in 4 weeks as car hire is just bonkers dear for the peak season. Had to drive at christmas also as the car hire was prohibitively expensive for the few weeks (but obviously someone was happy to pay it!).
Landbridge is only 165 each way midweek in July/ August with stena for a car + 2 adults + 2 infants to get from the continent to Ireland so good value. Including petrol and a couple of cheapie hotels it adds up all right, but is still less than half the cost of flying and hiring a car in Ireland and we get a mini holiday in Belgium and England on the way.

I've no massive problem with the crazy car hire prices as the flip side is that off peak car hire is for buttons.
Was home in April for a weekend and paid 12 euro per day for a small car.
Home in May again and paid 22 euro a day for a brand new octavia with place for all the trappings of 2 adults and 2 kids.
And paid similar prices a half dozen other times over the past couple of years.

Ireland is serious value nowadays if you are prepared to be flexible and shop around for deals.

whistlingtitan

SellingJuan wrote: »

munchkin_utd wrote: »

for foreigners a pint isnt a fiver
they drink Guinness which in my local at home is 3.25 a pint ! My wifes local just out cork city is that for Beamish and 50c more for Guinness or Murphys.

Its the Irish eejits who are the most brand concious nation in the world who buy schlop like Bud and (irish) heineken for the fiver a pint who end up getting ripped off.

And a fiver a pint anyhow is (unfortunately) not an inordinate amount of money to pay and you'll pay similar and often substantially more in any other large european or US city.

Well I have never ever seen a pint on guinness for less than 4.50... I dont know what neck of the woods you are in but a pint in Dublin is 5.50... "more in other large european or US city" haha are you being serious? That is the most outlandish statement I have ever heard haha!! I bet you are one of those people who are running a small rip of business and you are trying to justufy this outragous price :O

"Eejits"... My beer of choice is Bud.. Why because I bloody well like it!! I should not be limited to guinness.. IT MOST CERTAINLY ISNT SCHOLP.

Then again I could be wrong, you might not be running a small rip off business.. You are probably one of those croneys up in the dail, who tries to justify and increase in price of gasoline, because with your "expences" it wont affect you. Unlike the rest of the country.

Dublin is the 72nd dearest city in the world so that will give you an idea far far from rip off yea prices have dropped but Ireland has become more competive in the last few years very much so

Doc Ruby

getz wrote: »

tourists who come over by ferry usualy are married with at least one child,travel during high peak time[kids on school holidays] even with a small car in june it costs at least 486 euros,you are only quoting a one way passage for one person.i know you want them to stay or swim home

Thats a return trip ffs. I really couldn't be arsed looking up the prices for more people only for you to move the goalposts yet again. We've gone from 860 to 524 to 486, and from "getting a ferry" to "a family of 4 getting a ferry", and from off peak to peak times. Seriously, its plain as can be you don't know what you're talking about.

SellingJuan

mikemac1 wrote: »

Getting very personal there Juan

And you can certainly find Guinness around Ireland for less then 4.50
Have a weekend away for yourself, see more of the country

Youre probably right at that then... But can you not see how much of a rip off Ireland can be?

SellingJuan

crusher000 wrote: »

I live in a tourist town and one pub does all pints for 3 euro all week and at weekends 3 course meals for 18.95. When we shout rip of Irleand ourselves enough people will believe it and say we're expensive. Go to any where in europe and hit the tourist spots. guess what they're expenisve. Come of the beaten track a bit and you'll get better value for money

I cant agree with you there about going anywhere in Europe. Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, France, and Italy are the places I know of and the drink is most certainly cheaper in all of them, everything is. Notice a trend about the countries I picked they are all the most opoular toursit regions in europe.

Snowie

SellingJuan wrote: »

I dont see why anyone would want to visit Ireland... From my experience with foreigners who visit they never come back. Why would they, imagine being charged E5 for a pint, imagine veing charged E4 for a cup of coffe and being charged over the moon prices for any tourist attraction.

You do realizes You're living on an ecological play ground... That we could probably double our tourism in comings if the country were more pro active about it and stopped being so ****in stupid tourism is irelands bread winner...

If they did it right this county would make a fortune...

purplepanda

The west coast & Dublin is expensive for tourists, if you want value head away from these rip off areas. There is a big difference in accomodation costs between Kerry / Galway & Wexford / Waterford for example.

Personally I prefer visiting the areas that have lees tourists, apart from maybe Wicklow.

crusher000

purplepanda wrote: »

The west coast & Dublin is expensive for tourists, if you want value head away from these rip off areas. There is a big difference in accomodation costs between Kerry / Galway & Wexford / Waterford for example.

Personally I prefer visiting the areas that have lees tourists, apart from maybe Wicklow.

Your right there. 100 euro difference per night between Radisson in Galway and Limerick. With new motor way travel time from both greatly reduced.

Phill Ewinn

Access, prices, tourist focused iniatives. D'you know what we need? A minister for tourism. That'd be great!

kevinmccabe4

There's no arguing that Ireland's a bit on the expensive side and so may not be the most attractive to tourists.

But there's a few things that can make a visit to our green shores a bit easier on the wallet

My uncle and auntie live in the states and are always moaning about how much a visit home to Dublin costs them. But for their last visit (August) they got this here Horizon card that lets them refund their tax on the way back to yankeeland. Its a gud idea.

Check out the video for it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOCQBBszdqc

(P.S. the girl in it is a ****in ride! )

Wanderer2010

Tourism is huge in Ireland, the only downside being its only really for 6 months from April to September due to our climate. There are some amazing places to see in Ireland from Newgrange to the Aran Islands down to Hook Lighthouse etc. A lot of irish people have never even seen these places and it would be an eye opener for them. Certainly Dublin and Waterford and Kilkenny are always awash with tourists during the summer months so it os worth a lot. We have so many historical sites in this country which are well worth a visit, as either a tourist or native.