North America was the first market to show early signs of recovery with welcome growth coming in the fourth quarter of 2010. This recovery has been consolidated with an impressive 13% growth in visitor numbers for the first seven months of 2011. Last week ITIC asked some leading US Travel Experts if we could reasonably expect more of the same to continue in 2012.

Click on the image below to hear what they had to say.

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October 12th 2011

Growth in visitor numbers from Continental Europe for the first half of the year was robust, with particular buoyancy in the second quarter which showed a 24% increase on Q 2 of last year.

France is Ireland’s second largest Continental source market having achieved a peak 412,000 visitors in 2008, of whom 200,000 or almost 50% were pure holidaymakers. How quickly can we get back to and exceed those numbers was the subject of a recent conversation between I T I C and Billy Condon , Tourism Ireland’s man in France.

Click on the image below to hear what he had to say.

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September 14th 2011

China, Russia and Japan are each a source of upwards of 22 Million foreign trips per year, while India and Brazil are generating more than 9 million and 5 million foreign trips respectively.

According to a report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the so-called BRIC nations will account for 40% of the expansion of the world economy this year and in 2012, a larger proportion of global growth over the next two years than the seven leading industrial nations, combined – US, UK, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and Canada.

With their growing affluence it is no surprise that outbound travel is increasing from these new economic powerhouses, and as a consequence many destinations are targeting these sources for increased sales.

ITIC engaged the UCD Smurfit School of Business to examine the real potential of these markets for Ireland and the report makes for very interesting reading.

CLICK HERE to read ITIC’s synopsis of the report’s findings.

And when your appetite is suitably whetted CLICK HERE to get the full report.

August 9th, 2011

• The National Competitiveness Council has just published its latest study on the costs of doing business in Ireland in 2011. The report notes that we are moving in the right direction and that Ireland is becoming a more attractive place to do business, but much more needs to be done.

• Cost reductions have resulted primarily from cyclical factors like the collapse in consumer demand, domestically and internationally. Irish policy, the Competitiveness Council asserts, must deliver outcomes which embed lasting structural reform to ensure that the gains are permanent.

• Restoration of cost competitiveness is central to any economic recovery, and if Irish enterprises are to compete successfully for business in international markets, cost competiveness is one of the key determinants in achieving success.

• The report is well worth reading, and if you are pressed for time, there is an excellent and brief executive summary at the front.

CLICK HERE to access the report (PDF Format).

July 19th, 2011

The Government has just launched the first ever Irish Short-Stay Visa Waiver Programme, which commenced on July 1st and will run up to the end of October 2012.

It is a pilot scheme and will be reviewed in light of impact and experience. The easement on visa restrictions has long been sought by the Tourism Industry, and so this initiative has been widely welcomed.

Realistically, however, the markets at which the initiative is aimed are in the early stages of travel development, and significant results should not be expected in the short term. Long distance trips from these emerging markets are planned well in advance, and that is why it is imperative that the Visa Waiver scheme be continued well past the initial trial period, if these new markets are to be given a chance of developing meaningful visitor volumes. But the scheme can be a useful and potentially lucrative development once it is extended.

Basically the main point of the programme is that persons granted leave to enter the U.K. as a general visitor will be able to travel to Ireland within the validity of their leave to remain in the U.K. without the requirement to obtain an Irish Visa. But they must enter the U.K. first.

Nationals of the following countries are proposed, for inclusion in the programme, Belarus, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E, India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China.

CLICK HERE for full details on the Visa Waiver Programme (MS Word Format).

July 12th, 2011

Dotted with lakes, weaving rivers and historic canals, Ireland is a water-lover’s paradise for those visitors who take cruising holidays. It all started out on the great Shannon river, but over the years has extended to many other Irish waterways.

It’s been a difficult few years for the cruising sector, the bulk of whose business traditionally came from Continental Europe. But they are a resilient group, Ireland’s cruising operators, and ITIC spoke with Sven Neubert, Director of Waveline Cruisers just outside Athlone to find out how things were going this year.

Click on the image below to hear what he had to say.

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July 8th 2011

Finally the tide appears to be turning, with encouraging growth figures emerging in the first half of the year from our main source markets. But it’s a long road back to the heady heights of 2007 with a lot of work yet to be done.

ITIC spoke about the recovery with Minister of State Michael Ring at the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport.

Click on the image below to hear what he had to say.

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June 23rd 2011

The recent CSO results for the first quarter showed a welcome 12% growth in visitors from North America. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that Q2 will also record double digit growth over last year.

Is this evidence that the long awaited recovery is solidly underway?

ITIC spoke with Joe Byrne, Executive Vice President, North America, Tourism Ireland.

Click on the image below to hear what he had to say.

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June 13th 2011

This week the Minister for Finance presented his jobs initiative as promised in the programme for Government, and it is especially supportive of the Tourism industry, with many initiatives which will add vigour to the recovery which is getting underway. As the Economics editor of the Irish Times, Dan O’Brien puts it;

The focus on tourism is spot on. There are few more job-rich industries and the potential to bring in more visitors is very high- much higher numbers of in-bound tourists in the past shows that the challenge is about recovering lost ground, not breaking new ground. The decision to target VAT cuts on tourism related goods and services was far more sensible than the programme for Government commitment to give a small cut across the board. Other measures such as scrapping the dunderhead air travel tax and targeting PRSI cuts on the lower rate, were on the money too.

The introduction of a simpler visa process for visitors entering the UK and wishing to visit Ireland is particularly welcome, as this has been a significant barrier to developing business from some of the new emerging markets. This measure will encourage tourists visiting the UK to be able to visit Ireland for 3 days without the cost or hassle of applying for a separate visa.

The reduction in VAT to 9% for tourist industry services will be introduced from July 1st and this is especially helpful as it will allow for the introduction of more better- value- offers to be made available to the consumer at home and abroad.

When combined with the lower rate of PRSI on low earners this will act as an important incentive toward employment retention and new job creation.

The proposal to abolish the airport departure tax together with significant rebates of passenger charges by Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports for extra passengers brought in, is a very meaningful incentive for carriers to add new capacity or new routes which should lead to accelerated restoration of passenger growth through these airports.

Many of the new measures were called for in ITIC ‘s report earlier this year, Tourism Opportunity-Driving Economic Renewal, and it is very encouraging to see that Minister Varadker has convinced his Cabinet colleagues that the industry has indeed the potential to maintain its existing 180,000 jobs and to add a further 21,000 by the end of 2015, at which stage, given the kind of initiatives contained in the Government’s jobs programme Irish tourism can have recovered to its peak 2007 levels.

To read the full section which pertains just to tourism, CLICK HERE for the extract from the Minister’s speech.

(Leo Varadkar – Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport)

Early days, but a really good start by Minister Varadkar and the Government in recognising the very real potential which tourism presents to drive economic renewal throughout the country.

12 May 2011

The description most often used about the Irish Tourism industry is that it is a resilient sector, always capable of picking itself up and getting the show on the road again.

And so it would seem once again, as amid all the doom-laden talk about bank stress tests and burning bondholders, travel and tourism goes about its business of rebuilding and looking to the future with optimism.

To explore this further, ITIC spoke with Fiona O’Sullivan, President of the Incoming Tour Operators Association-Ireland (ITOA). Click on the image below to hear what she had to say.

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April 13th 2011