KILKEE Chamber of Commerce president and local businessman, Johnny Redmond, says the price of staying in the resort has reduced considerably but nevertheless, visitor numbers have fallen drastically this summer.
“What I found this year is that a lot of the tourists coming in are haggling for a price accommodation-wise. That has all come down from the top because hotels that were going out of business were all selling themselves for nothing in order to keep the doors open. They were trying to sell 150 rooms whereas the likes of me only has six rooms. So I can’t afford to drop the price that much. It’s not worth my while but a lot of B&Bs around here dropped their prices and they were offering room only prices,” he told The Clare Champion.
“I’m situated on the seafront in Kilkee and our accommodation is pretty good but our numbers are way down on bed nights this year. We can’t get them into the rooms because they’re just not around. We had a good weekend but the numbers were down in the town, visually at least,” he added.
The wet weather in July further depressed the visitor market in Kilkee and West Clare but even those who stayed in the town, sometimes didn’t have money to spend, the Chamber president noted.
“A lot of the holiday homes were pretty full during July but the people that were occupying them were not coming out around the town spending money. They don’t have it, I suppose. There has definitely been a drop in the last two years in spending.
“Other businesses that I speak to around the town, they’re all way back. It’s just a sign of the times, I’m afraid,” the Strand proprietor surmised.
Long term, Mr Redmond feels Kilkee will have to market itself in conjunction with Loop Head.
“In the long run, that’s the plan. It’s always been my goal that the recent Loop Head Tourism Destination Award will be very beneficial. But that’s down the road. I think that the way forward for Kilkee and West Clare is to get foreign tourists to take up some of the bed nights,” he concluded.

Quiet times for Shannon Heritage

WHILE the bank holiday weekend was quite busy at Shannon Heritage’s attractions, the year so far has been quite disappointing, according to chief executive John Ruddle.
Shannon Heritage is the tourism arm of Shannon Development and is responsible for a number of attractions in the Mid-West including Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Craggaunowen, Knappogue Castle, the Brian Boru heritage centre in Killaloe, King John’s Castle in Limerick and Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara.
“The bank holiday weekend was quite good, we were quite happy with it. We had an event at Craggaunowen that was busier than the same one last year and our other sites were generally up as well. But that’s bucking the general trend for 2010, which is down on last year,” he said.
Mr Ruddle estimated that the crowds at Shannon Heritage’s attractions were up by between 2% and 4% on the August Bank Holiday weekend last year.
However, for the year to date, he estimated that numbers are down by between five and 10%. Part of this was due to the impact of the Icelandic ash cloud, he commented. “It was a big problem for us because the airport was closed. That might have been responsible for about 2% of the decline.”
He said August will be a telling month for how the Irish holiday market is performing, as it is when most people take their holidays from work.

Mixed bag in East Clare

THE tourism season in East Clare is described as a bit of a mixed bag. Overall, the effects of the recession are beginning to hit home with reports that advance bookings are down on other years and an overall decrease in visitors is evident.
While festivals such as the Scariff Harbour Festival last weekend and the Feakle Festival this week bringing business to the area, the ash cloud earlier in the year caused upset for tourism-based operators.
The Mayfly season was hit by the Icelandic ash cloud, which had an effect on European visitors according to local businessman Pádraig Giblin, who operates fishing tours on Lough Derg.
“We lost 17 French fishermen due to the ash cloud in May and that’s just with our own outfit. So there was a big loss in terms of bookings during May. The Scariff Harbour Festival last weekend was outstanding and saw boats coming down specially from Enniskillen to the festival so that was a huge boost. Many of those are staying on for the Feakle Festival as well, so this weekend was very busy,” Mr Giblin commented.
In Mountshannon, Ursula Hogan of Hawthorn Lodge said business overall has been down on last year.
“What we are seeing is that there is not a lot of booking in advance. We are getting a lot of off the road business, where people were just passing and would knock on the door. There seems to be more of that this year, usually we would have more bookings in advance. Even the last bank holiday weekend was down on other years. I had one room available and I only have three rooms. Business is down overall.
“This weekend, with the Feakle Festival, I’m fully booked. While the festivals help with business, it is a bonus and we are not relying on them,” Ms Hogan said.
Another accommodation provider said the number of hotels being repossessed and run by creditors is hurting small businesses.
“It is becoming very hard to compete with the likes of hotels being run by liquidators and receivers. What isn’t helping is that they can advertise a room rate of €30. When you go looking for that rate you can’t get it, but it is being thrown back at us when we are quoting our prices.