10-point plan for tourism industry

CLARE tourism may have been in freefall for the last few years but some in the industry feel there is potential for recovery.

A number of Clare’s leading hoteliers attended this week’s Mid-West launch of a five-year turnaround plan for the tourism industry.
The plan entitled Tourism Opportunity-Driving Economic Renewal was prepared by the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) and the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC). It claims that the tourism sector has the potential to create more than 20,000 jobs over the next five years.
The industry has a 10-point plan for action, which focuses on things like marketing, targeting certain countries and adjusting tourism agency structures.
At the launch in Limerick, three separate scenarios were outlined. If there is low growth, it was envisaged that 3,000 jobs would be generated by 2015; with mid-level growth this would be 14,000 and with high-level growth it could reach 21,000.
At the launch, Eamon McKeown of the ITIC said the plan offers a roadmap for the next government. “This is a manifesto and if an incoming government has the guts and foresight, it can help sustain 180,000 jobs and create 20,000.”
He said that along with the export sector and agriculture, tourism is key to recovery. With regard to tourism he said, “It is in every small town and village in Ireland, in places that industry can’t go”.
Mary Gleeson of the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis attended the launch and said she felt the plan has potential. “I think it was interesting. The plan needs to be developed. There were interesting concepts there, such as harnessing the diaspora. It’s very clear we must target markets overseas.”
She acknowledged that the sector has faced a lot of problems. “The last three years have been difficult. Each year has been a bit more difficult than the previous one. I believe we have to respond by bringing more people in from abroad. It’s really important to target the most convenient markets for us and we have new opportunities in the UK with access into Shannon. It’s very important that we promote the transatlantic flights that we have and the ones that will be relaunched at the end of March.”
She said there are already some signs of recovery in the American market. However, she said booking trends make it difficult to assess the true state of business.
“Maybe five years ago we could have forecast in January how things were going to be. Now it’s a real wait-and-see until April. We have some good signs on our books but some of the operators hold space but will cancel it at four or five weeks notice,” she said.
Michael Vaughan, chairman of the IHF Shannon branch, also feels there is some cause for optimism. “On a personal note, in my own business, the American market is starting to show a rebound in a niche area, in the golf area. That would turn into a growth in other areas in the next few years. How big that growth will be is hard to know because the golf market as a niche would involve high nett worth individuals.
“The overall American market is still very far away from where it was. Nothing to do with capacity, interestingly enough. The capacity into Shannon would be enough; the issue is confidence in the American market. The best prospect markets that we have are not available to us in the region because we don’t have flights from Continental Europe through Shannon and that remains a key priority for us going forward.”
He doesn’t expect growth to be very high over the next few years. “The high-growth scenario is what we should aim for but we’re looking at low to middle growth in the next two years anyway, that’s for sure.”
Mr Vaughan also said that Shannon Development doesn’t have adequate resources to invest in tourism. “One of the biggest issues we have in Clare is that Shannon Development’s spend on promoting tourism in the region has gone to roughly one-third of what it was two years ago. As long as Shannon Development is underfunded, our ability to get tourists will be much impeded,” he concluded.