Should the government offer free flights for tourists to come to Ireland?

double GG · 02-07-2011 04:28PM #1

This idea, I read about it in my local newspaper when Gavin Duffy wrote an article about it. I can't find a link to the particular article but the body of the article was offering free flights for tourists to come to the country, who then would stay in hotels, caravans etc.. then spend money in shops and restaurants and go to see tourist attractions.

He went on to say that the government should buy x amount of seats for planes coming to Ireland and offer them for free to different countries around the world for free. These tourists would then spend money in Ireland and this money spent on the flights would easily be covered by the money spent by the tourists.

It's morealess a suggestion from me, I just remembered the article today and decided to see what people think about it.

Gavin had all the figures done about how much the seats for the plane would cost and that the average tourist would spend x amount etc.. and it seemed like a really good article to me.

Whats your opinion on it? Would it really be worth it?

*Also I may aswell say it No Gavin Duffy Bashers today please as I know there are quite a few of you around!!*

My name is URL · 02-07-2011 04:37PM

It might bring more people to Ireland, but there's no guarantee that they'd spend more money. You can be sure that the type of person who'd avail off free flights would be the ones who are reluctant to spend in the first place.. Tourists are routinely ripped off in Ireland.. most attractions charge exorbitant prices which puts people off visiting.

I don't see why the government should have to entice people by offering free flights at a cost to the tax-payer.. businesses should be enticing people by charging reasonable prices.

Doyler92 · 02-07-2011 04:38PM

I agree with URL. I reckon that the cost the flights would cost the government, would not be made back in the amount that the tourists would spend.

Bear in mind every situation is different.

Needler · 02-07-2011 04:46PM

No but they should be handing out money to people who get off the plane rather than charging them a tourist tax

Capt'n Midnight · 03-07-2011 01:25AM

RyanAir would love this

mikemac · 03-07-2011 01:28AM

Think I read somewhere that the tourists who spend the most are golfers. There was some proposal to market this and Ireland has great courses including links all over the country

You can't offer free flights to everyone but you can target high spenders

starbelgrade · 03-07-2011 01:29AM

double GG wrote: »

tourists to come to the country, who then would stay in hotels, caravans etc..

I think we've enough people her living in caravans already without giving Johnny Foreigner free flights over to join them.

partyatmygaff · 03-07-2011 01:29AM

Needler wrote: »

No but they should be handing out money to people who get off the plane rather than charging them a tourist tax

Yep that makes sense alright. Cut our revenues and just hand over free money to tourists for some reason.

randylonghorn · 03-07-2011 02:02AM

mikemac wrote: »

Think I read somewhere that the tourists who spend the most are golfers. There was some proposal to market this and Ireland has great courses including links all over the country

There were enough grants given to (at least some of) them during the Celtic Kitty years!

Not sure about the original idea, but at least someone is thinking outside the box, makes a change!

Anyone have any other mad / maybe workable ideas for upping our tourist numbers / revenue?

mikemac · 03-07-2011 02:04AM

randylonghorn wrote: »

Anyone have any other mad / maybe workable ideas for upping our tourist numbers / revenue?

Sell Irish passports to millionaires

We did it in the 1980's

Dman001 · 03-07-2011 02:09AM

It would be more worth while enticing Hotels, Restaurants, Pubs etc to bring down their prices to attract tourists. It probably has been done, but lower the Tax rate for these businesses and offer some incentive for lowering their prices. Not only would it attract tourists, but would entice Irish people to stay in Ireland for the Summer and spend their money domestically.

mikemac · 03-07-2011 02:12AM

Dman001 wrote: »

It probably has been done, but lower the Tax rate for these businesses and offer some incentive for lowering their prices.

It was done yesterday

Vat rate cut and they were warned if the prices don't fall the Vat rate goes back up again

Chuck Stone · 03-07-2011 02:14AM

double GG wrote: »

This idea, I read about it in my local newspaper when Gavin Duffy wrote an article about it. I can't find a link to the particular article but the body of the article was offering free flights for tourists to come to the country, who then would stay in hotels, caravans etc.. then spend money in shops and restaurants and go to see tourist attractions.

He went on to say that the government should buy x amount of seats for planes coming to Ireland and offer them for free to different countries around the world for free. These tourists would then spend money in Ireland and this money spent on the flights would easily be covered by the money spent by the tourists.

It's morealess a suggestion from me, I just remembered the article today and decided to see what people think about it.

Gavin had all the figures done about how much the seats for the plane would cost and that the average tourist would spend x amount etc.. and it seemed like a really good article to me.

Whats your opinion on it? Would it really be worth it?

*Also I may aswell say it No Gavin Duffy Bashers today please as I know there are quite a few of you around!!*

No.

There is no such thing as free. The gubberment does not have any money; they take it from us in the form of taxes.

If we offer 'free' flights then what you are doing is taking money out of my pocket and giving it to the tourist industry.

I do not want to support the tourist industry.

If the tourist industry is in trouble then drop your fucking prices and compete instead of asking the tax payer to subsidise your ripping off of tourists.

GTFOimo.

Dman001 · 03-07-2011 02:15AM

mikemac wrote: »

It was done yesterday

Vat rate cut and they were warned if the prices don't fall the Vat rate goes back up again

D'oh, of course! Still amazes me what a Rip Off country we still are, and still wouldn't surprise me if businesses pocket the Tax cuts instead of passing them on to the consumer.

Edit: Ireland is known for its low Corporation Tax, and so attracts Multinationals. We could be known as a cheap Tourist destination for low-cost holidays too.

Kojak · 03-07-2011 02:17AM

Needler wrote: »

No but they should be handing out money to people who get off the plane rather than charging them a tourist tax

Yeah, but where would thye get this extra money from? I'm guessing it would be from the over-worked tax payer.

If people (i.e. tourists) thought they were getting value for money, then they would be coming here in their droves, but alas, prices for food, wine, accomodation etc. are miles higher than on mainland europe. We can't expect people to come here just because it will help our economy - they will only come if they feel they are getting a bargain. You'd be the same yourself if you were travelling abroad.

Celly Smunt · 03-07-2011 02:18AM

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Yep that makes sense alright. Cut our revenues and just hand over free money to tourists for some reason.

yes because we all know tourists come here with no money,don't eat for days and stroll around not spending a cent :rolleyes:

what i'm saying is this for example

current system
income (tax and demand for Ireland)-€1

profit-€1

as opposed to the proposed
income(tourists with more money to spend and higher numbers)-€3

expenditure(flights,no tax etc)-€1

profit-€2

Hasmunch · 03-07-2011 02:20AM

Airport taxes should be lowered so that they are in line with other european countries* so that air fares can be set by the airlines and can be be just as low as they are to fly into other european countries.

*i have no idea what said taxes are and may be talking through my hat.

OPENROAD · 03-07-2011 02:26AM

Kojak wrote: »

If people (i.e. tourists) thought they were getting value for money, then they would be coming here in their droves, but alas, prices for food, wine, accomodation etc. are miles higher than on mainland europe. We can't expect people to come here just because it will help our economy - they will only come if they feel they are getting a bargain. You'd be the same yourself if you were travelling abroad.

Spot on

washman3 · 03-07-2011 02:27AM

Great idea. Michael Healy Rae said he would even pay for it.!!

randylonghorn · 03-07-2011 02:32AM

Chuck Stone wrote: »

I do not want to support the tourist industry.

Actually, you probably do tbh.

More tourists = more revenue coming into the country, being spent not only in hotels but in shops, restaurants, bars, etc. etc.

Which means jobs saved / no additional people going on dole ... maybe even the odd *extra* job here and there.

Also means extra revenue to the exchequer in VAT and taxes.

All of which ultimately means less money out of our pockets ... though these days I accept it's a drop in the ocean!!

I do agree with you though re: prices etc. A lot of Dublin-based hotels seem to be offering good bargains, and some other parts of the country, but some haven't copped on yet.

Mind you, a lot of places do seem to be implementing the VAT decrease pretty instantly (and giving themselves a public pat-on-the-back for doing so! :pac:)

double GG · 03-07-2011 02:38AM

Some arguments going both ways here. Nice to see a nice argument about it. I do think most prices for certain 'tourist' spots are ridiculously expensive which is always going to affect tourists coming and visiting.

03-07-2011 03:14AM

Offering free flights is desperation. I wouldn't go near a country offering free flights because logic would tell me that I'm going to get ripped off afterwards or the place is complete shlte.

washman3 · 03-07-2011 03:43AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Offering free flights is desperation. I wouldn't go near a country offering free flights because logic would tell me that I'm going to get ripped off afterwards or the place is complete shlte.

even if it included free pints in Healy Rae's in Kilgarvan???

Capt'n Midnight · 03-07-2011 11:28AM

mikemac wrote: »

It was done yesterday

Vat rate cut and they were warned if the prices don't fall the Vat rate goes back up again

I wonder if they need to be reminded of what how long the VAT rate drop from 21% to 20% lasted when it wasn't passed on to consumers. :mad:

Tourists are various groups, there are those who would come anyway.
There are those who are price sensitive.
There are backpackers, and they are important because they may return in years time when they have money, so worth invesnting in , but you won't get a quick return on your money

ejmaztec · 03-07-2011 12:10PM

washman3 wrote: »

even if it included free pints in Healy Rae's in Kilgarvan???

I'd rather pay twenty quid a pint in any pub in Ireland, than go in there and get infected with incurable boggeritis.

stephendevlin · 03-07-2011 12:26PM

Kojak wrote: »

coming here in their droves, but alas, prices for food, wine, accomodation etc. are miles higher than on mainland europe..

If they were coming here in numbers the prices would go up in these places also

mikemac · 03-07-2011 12:35PM

Getting a hotel room in Ireland has never been cheaper.

You can get rooms in fine places for 50 euro easily if you look around.
3 star places and established chains, the deals never stop

So one thing that has come down in price.
Though some hotels are being taken over by NAMA so you could say we are indirectly paying for this

03-07-2011 12:36PM

no they should give free flights to those who want to emigrate

stephendevlin · 03-07-2011 12:40PM

not a bad thought. free flights to australia. then there would be less on the dole.. hell they could even use the governement jet (which we own) to ferry us out of the country

ejmaztec · 03-07-2011 12:42PM

mikemac wrote: »

Getting a hotel room in Ireland has never been cheaper.

You can get rooms in fine places for 50 euro easily if you look around.
3 star places and established chains, the deals never stop

So one thing that has come down in price.
Though some hotels are being taken over by NAMA so you could say we are indirectly paying for this

I don't think that Irish hotel are the only ones to drop their prices, so the competition is still there from the rest of Europe, and it's still as hard for tourists to get here.

washman3 · 03-07-2011 02:07PM

ejmaztec wrote: »

I'd rather pay twenty quid a pint in any pub in Ireland, than go in there and get infected with incurable boggeritis.

cant stop laughing at this.!! well said.

:):)

Should the government offer free flights for tourists to come to Ireland?

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