Ireland as a tourist destination!

Clareboy · 12-06-2012 05:18PM #1

I have often wondered why anyone would want to spent ( or waste ) their hard earned money coming to Ireland as a tourist or holidaymaker.

First of all, we have a lousy climate. Now I know people do not come here for the weather, so it is not such a big issue.

The most off putting aspect about travelling in Ireland is the high cost of travel, food and accommodation, when compared to our target markets of the UK, USA and Western Europe.

Our once beautiful countryside has been ravaged by uncontrolled housing developement of the most ugly, vulgar and inappropriate styles.

Public transport is a joke or non-existant throughout large areas of rural Ireland.

Our once famous ' Cead Mile Failte ' and friendly banter has been considerably watered down with the employment of vast numbers of foreign nationals in the hospitality sector.

Many villages lack such basic facilities as a public toilet, coffee shop, children's playground or bus shelter.

Our motorways and main roads do not have picnic sites or service areas and we all know the reason for that.

Why would anyone want to visit Ireland?

Any visitors out there who would like to enlighten me!

aaronjumper · 12-06-2012 05:20PM

Because the unraped countryside we have left can be quite beautiful to look at.
The citys not so much.

Anita Blow · 12-06-2012 05:23PM

AH in Irish self-deprecating thread shocker

Thatnastyboy · 12-06-2012 05:24PM

Im a native, not a visitor

But I reckon it's because they like it,

And I hope tourists continue to visit our beautiful country,

I hope they don't bump into you on their travels anyway, you'll send em home!

In other words:

F*ck off outta here if you don't like it :pac:

Mint Sauce · 12-06-2012 05:25PM

Clareboy wrote: »

I have often wondered why anyone would want to spent ( or waste ) their hard earned money coming to Ireland as a tourist or holidaymaker.

First of all, we have a lousy climate. Now I know people do not come here for the weather, so it is not such a big issue.

The most off putting aspect about travelling in Ireland is the high cost of travel, food and accommodation, when compared to our target markets of the UK, USA and Western Europe.

Our once beautiful countryside has been ravaged by uncontrolled housing developement of the most ugly, vulgar and inappropriate styles.

Public transport is a joke or non-existant throughout large areas of rural Ireland.

Our once famous ' Cead Mile Failte ' and friendly banter has been considerably watered down with the employment of vast numbers of foreign nationals in the hospitality sector.

Many villages lack such basic facilities as a public toilet, coffee shop, children's playground or bus shelter.

Our motorways and main roads do not have picnic sites or service areas and we all know the reason for that.

Why would anyone want to visit Ireland?

Any visitors out there who would like to enlighten me!

If Ireland had the weather it would be one of the nicest places to visit, slights and scenery wise. The Island its self has some of the most scenic sights, especially along the atlantic and north coast.

In regard to motorway services, considering the number of motorways we have, and the lenght of them, you'll never really be on one long enough to really require them, the M4 services are handy, but not sure they would be missed if we never had them.

As for ameanities in local towns and villages, I'll give you that one.

Mr.Crinklewood · 12-06-2012 05:25PM

Some parts are beautiful.

Bell Butter · 12-06-2012 05:25PM

Thread needs more brass monkey.

Biggins · 12-06-2012 05:26PM

We have a lot of history here, both in building history, in writing, in battle and in art history.
I can totally understand why someone would want to come visit.
The contribution Ireland has made to world history has been considerable in many ways.
Some people like to gain the opportunity to see the roots of this which has spread across the world.

Thatnastyboy · 12-06-2012 05:26PM

Bell Butter wrote: »

Thread needs more brass monkey.

Monkey needs more brass thread

mr.jingle · 12-06-2012 05:26PM

We have a beautiful country out there if you look hard enough Ireland has some magnificent sights and brilliant places to go. I've been to other supposed 'beautiful' countries and cities and been very disappointed

Daisy M · 12-06-2012 05:28PM

Clareboy is this thread just another excuse for you to start ranting about one off housing?

Nodin · 12-06-2012 05:30PM

Daisy M wrote: »

Clareboy is this thread just another excuse for you to start ranting about one off housing?

And foriegn folk, given some of his other threads.

Bell Butter · 12-06-2012 05:30PM

mr.jingle wrote: »

We have a beautiful country out there if you look hard enough Ireland has some magnificent sights and brilliant places to go. I've been to other supposed 'beautiful' countries and cities and been very disappointed

True, look at Paris, nice in the centre of the city but a bit shítty around the outskirts and the people are horrible. Italy, don't go to fúcking naples what ever you do..

2rkehij30qtza5 · 12-06-2012 05:31PM

I stumbled upon an american travel online magazine about a month ago (can't think of the name of it) but it did a feature on Ireland. It interviewed 3 Americans who had been on holiday recently here. Two of them had been here many times before and one person had only visited the once.

The two who had been here numerous times before also made the point that the 'céad míle fáilte' is practically gone with so many foreign workers in the hospitality industry. One of the people said that their contact with Irish people used to be through the hospitality industry (ie they would chat to the wait staff,hotel staff etc) and this was their way of interacting with the Irish public and they have said it has all but disappeared now.

Biggins · 12-06-2012 05:33PM

Clareboy wrote: »

...Why would anyone want to visit Ireland?

Any visitors out there who would like to enlighten me!

If you really have to ask that question, you have not being paying much attention in school to history, geography, art lesson or even the subject of writing during an English class.

A sad state of exposing ones's lack of education in a lot of matters.

Bullseye1 · 12-06-2012 05:35PM

We have alot going for us here. Four seasons in one day. Some beautiful towns and villages with great places to eat and drink. And great scenery. I hadn't been to West Cork and Kerry until last year. I was blown away by the scenery and beauty of the place. We have lost the pub tradition though which was a tourist attraction and we could do with reducing our prices even further.

Daisy M · 12-06-2012 05:35PM

Gibson Melted Rudder wrote: »

I stumbled upon an american travel online magazine about a month ago (can't think of the name of it) but it did a feature on Ireland. It interviewed 3 Americans who had been on holiday recently here. Two of them had been here many times before and one person had only visited the once.

The two who had been here numerous times before also made the point that the 'céad míle fáilte' is practically gone with so many foreign workers in the hospitality industry. One of the people said that their contact with Irish people used to be through the hospitality industry (ie they would chat to the wait staff,hotel staff etc) and this was their way of interacting with the Irish public and they have said it has all but disappeared now.

Maybe they would be better off staying in family owned b&bs and guesthouses rather than chain hotels. Now I have to say in fairness that I find staff in Irish hotels to be extremely friendly and polite regardless of thei nationality. I think the lack of the "cead mile failte" probably comes from the staff not having time to stand and chat as they are ran off their feet.

ScumLord · 12-06-2012 05:35PM

Clareboy wrote: »

Our motorways and main roads do not have picnic sites or service areas and we all know the reason for that.

Our motorways are tiny in comparison to what people in other countries are used to. a 2 and a half hour journey in a car is nothing to an American so there's little need for stop off along the motorway, just pull into any town and you have the services you need.

People do love Ireland, I had one American that was touring Europe say to me Ireland is the only country that lived up to expectations. People don't come to Ireland expecting sunshine our weather is world renowned. Even in the rain though Ireland has this mysticism to it, probably because of the rain it has that sense. It also has a very different feel to a continent it's kind of hard to explain.

It's also down to the people though, we are different in just about everything we do.

hardCopy · 12-06-2012 05:44PM

Bullseye1 wrote: »

We have alot going for us here. Four seasons in one day. Some beautiful towns and villages with great places to eat and drink. And great scenery. I hadn't been to West Cork and Kerry until last year. I was blown away by the scenery and beauty of the place. We have lost the pub tradition though which was a tourist attraction and we could do with reducing our prices even further.

I wouldn't say we've lost the pub tradition. I spent a week in Clare in mid-February and there was a live trad session 7 nights a week in the local. Beautiful part of the world with quiet roads to cycle on all across the Burren. Any traffic we met seemed to be buses full of tourists. Certainly no shortage of scenery or pubs in Kerry in my experience either.

eth0 · 12-06-2012 05:45PM

Clareboy wrote: »

I have often wondered why anyone would want to spent ( or waste ) their hard earned money coming to Ireland as a tourist or holidaymaker.

First of all, we have a lousy climate. Now I know people do not come here for the weather, so it is not such a big issue.

The most off putting aspect about travelling in Ireland is the high cost of travel, food and accommodation, when compared to our target markets of the UK, USA and Western Europe.

Our once beautiful countryside has been ravaged by uncontrolled housing developement of the most ugly, vulgar and inappropriate styles.

Public transport is a joke or non-existant throughout large areas of rural Ireland.

Our once famous ' Cead Mile Failte ' and friendly banter has been considerably watered down with the employment of vast numbers of foreign nationals in the hospitality sector.

Many villages lack such basic facilities as a public toilet, coffee shop, children's playground or bus shelter.

Our motorways and main roads do not have picnic sites or service areas and we all know the reason for that.

Why would anyone want to visit Ireland?

Any visitors out there who would like to enlighten me!

Will you give up on that codology, it seems a periodic thing with you that you have to make a thread about how dare people build houses in the country side and not pay property tax for a couple of public toilets and a few fcuk off lay by's with flower pots that a handfull of tourists might use once a year.

Go live somewhere else if things are so bad here, you'd be no loss to us

Bullseye1 · 12-06-2012 05:57PM

hardCopy wrote: »

I wouldn't say we've lost the pub tradition. I spent a week in Clare in mid-February and there was a live trad session 7 nights a week in the local. Beautiful part of the world with quiet roads to cycle on all across the Burren. Any traffic we met seemed to be buses full of tourists. Certainly no shortage of scenery or pubs in Kerry in my experience either.

It's good to hear that some parts of Ireland are doing well in the pub trade. I guess the music is a huge plus.

DB10 · 12-06-2012 06:08PM

I think if you planned it right it could be a good destination. As far as I can tell alot of tourists end up in the wrong parts of the country, and confine themselves to Dublin too much.

Depends what you want out of it really. I'm not sure why any young person would holiday here though and the nightlife is slightly overrated.

SMASH THE UNIONS · 12-06-2012 06:15PM

Tourists come to Ireland expecting to interact with Irish people, hear the Irish accent, have the famous craic etc and instead they are faced with Nigerian taxi drivers, Pakistani shop assistants, Polish bar maids, Chinese waitresses etc etc. It's very possible to take a week long holiday and not interact with one Irish person at all. Anybody who thinks this isn't negatively affecting our tourist numbers is DELUDED.

ScumLord · 12-06-2012 06:19PM

SMASH THE UNIONS wrote: »

Tourists come to Ireland expecting to interact with Irish people, hear the Irish accent, have the famous craic etc and instead they are faced with Nigerian taxi drivers, Pakistani shop assistants, Polish bar maids, Chinese waitresses etc etc. It's very possible to take a week long holiday and not interact with one Irish person at all. Anybody who thinks this isn't negatively affecting our tourist numbers is DELUDED.

This would be another thing foreigners would be well used to, especially our target market the yanks and Brits. They've had multiculturalism for decades. It's also nonsense to say you could spend any amount of time in Ireland without running into Irish people, even the foreigners that do end up here seem to be characters that are suited to the Irish way of life.

DB10 · 12-06-2012 06:24PM

As Dunphy said, this country is a kip. The education and training system is a disgrace. The amount of people doing utterly useless FAS courses these days for their 200 + euro allowance is huge. I would to if I could.

People need to breed more to survive, and cherish their own family members in successful positions who can provide them with employment.

Education and Law is a pointless in this country. Due to its size, its all about connections. You can do practically anything with enough money/contacts.

Immaculate Pasta · 12-06-2012 06:27PM

It's a fantastic country to visit. In spite of my Irish roots I still am a tourist returning to my "home country" but I am stunned by the scenery every single time I visit. I'm fortunate to have family in Connemara which is very beautiful but the West Coast of Ireland as a whole is stunning: Ring of Kerry, parts of Mayo round Croagh Patrick, Cliffs of Moher then going up as far as Donegal (there's of course more to it but they're the places that spring to mind). All of it are beautiful places to go on holiday. The people make it as well as the scenery. I know there's a disproportionate number of people from Dublin in After Hours who love to complain about knackers but I always find the people in Ireland very hospitable and friendly on the whole. Dublin is worth a visit as a tourist well but I wouldn't do more than a weekend trip there. Although I think if you want to truly experience the true culture of any country you never get this from visiting the capital.

I think people in general from Britain and Ireland go on a lot of holidays just because of the weather. They miss out on a lot of beautiful places to go in their own country, particularly the English where I'm from, who have this paranoid view that as soon as they enter Scotland, Wales or Ireland or even the other end of their own country that as soon as their accent is clocked people will immediately be hostile and turn on you which I can't ever recall ever experiencing this. I often asked by my friends in England when I say I'm off home to Ireland to see family and they say stupid things like "make sure they don't catch a whiff your accent" or "don't you feel threatened going there?" :rolleyes: It's all very narrow minded.

There's a lot of people therefore are happy to go to some place on the Mediterranean sit by a pool for two weeks, getting drunk in an English/Irish bar with their compatriots and call it the best holiday of their life. Which there is nothing wrong with of course but it's not my cup of tea personally and I do feel you are missing out if that's your holiday every single year.

:cool:

SMASH THE UNIONS · 12-06-2012 06:27PM

ScumLord wrote: »

This would be another thing foreigners would be well used to, especially our target market the yanks and Brits. They've had multiculturalism for decades. It's also nonsense to say you could spend any amount of time in Ireland without running into Irish people, even the foreigners that do end up here seem to be characters that are suited to the Irish way of life.

I don't understand what you mean by the part in bold. Can you elaborate? Are you referring to the Prime Time Investigates programme earlier this year which exposed the endemic problem of Nigerian taxi drivers sharing license plates, working while cliaming the dole and embracing the Irish "cute hoor" way of life?

As for the British and the Americans regarding multiculturalism - I'd be very shocked if I arrived in a rural British town and was overwhelmingly surrounded by Brazillians (think of tiny Gort in Co. Galway). FWIW I was personally dissappointed with the lack of British presence in London. Hardly anybody spoke English which made the trip more difficult. I felt like I was in Pakistan. If I wanted to experience Pakistan, I would go there, but I wanted to see England.

Biggins · 12-06-2012 06:29PM

DB10 wrote: »

As Dunphy said, this country is a kip. The education and training system is a disgrace. The amount of people doing utterly useless FAS courses these days for their 200 + euro allowance is huge. I would to if I could.

People need to breed more to survive, and cherish their own family members in successful positions who can provide them with employment.

Education and Law is a pointless in this country. Due to its size, its all about connections. You can do practically anything with enough money/contacts.

While I might agree with you on some of the above - what have they got to do with tourism and this thread topic?

12-06-2012 06:32PM

It's just a pity that the young Irish who could be working in the hospitality industry see it as something other people do. Well, unless they go to Australia for a bit.

Orim · 12-06-2012 06:34PM

DB10 wrote: »

As Dunphy said, this country is a kip. The education and training system is a disgrace. The amount of people doing utterly useless FAS courses these days for their 200 + euro allowance is huge. I would to if I could.

People need to breed more to survive, and cherish their own family members in successful positions who can provide them with employment.

Education and Law is a pointless in this country. Due to its size, its all about connections. You can do practically anything with enough money/contacts.

What does any of that have to do with the country as a tourist destination?

It's not even a misleading thread title. You had to read one sentence and you couldn't be bothered to do that. No wonder the country is in a state.

OT : We have a beautiful countryside. Add that with the historic buildings and what not it's a fantastic. Someone said it above but I do think it would be important to plan a trip here or you'd end up in spots that aren't as interesting.

DB10 · 12-06-2012 06:35PM

Deleted User wrote: »

It's just a pity that the young Irish who could be working in the hospitality industry see it as something other people do. Well, unless they go to Australia for a bit.

Plenty of young Irish work in the Hospitality sector, they do where I live anyway.

I must say its not like they are crying out for workers, I asked around last week and most are full for the summer for employment.

Ireland as a tourist destination!

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