New measures ‘could save tourism season’

THE scrapping of the controversial Airport Travel Tax, announced as part of the Government Jobs Initiative this week, will result in higher tourist numbers to the region and more passengers using Shannon Airport, it has been claimed.
The initiative has been widely welcomed in Clare and “could save the tourism season here in 2011”, according to the president of the Shannon Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, Michael Vaughan.
Mr Vaughan, a Lahinch hotelier, called the document published on Tuesday “one of the most pro-tourism initiatives in the last 10 years from Government”.
“It is a very good first step to recovery,” he said.
The initiative includes the suspension of the Airport Travel Tax, the reduction of the VAT rate from 13.5% to 9% for certain tourism-related services, the introduction of a new scheme of discounts on airport charges, a major tourism marketing campaign and a visa waiver programme in an effort to entice tourists who are travelling to the UK for the London Olympics next year to include Ireland on their itineraries. The Government also renewed its commitment to a review of sectoral wage agreements.
“We welcome the abolition of the €3 departure tax. The withdrawal of that tax will, once and for all, uncover whether this was in fact a disincentive to travel or not. We will now see if the airlines who shouted the loudest about this will be able to return the passenger numbers to their previous levels. I would be sceptical that the initiative on its own will produce a dramatic effect but the initiatives are a positive message in terms of what tourism can do for a country and it is a signal as to the role of tourism in terms of the recovery of the country,” Mr Vaughan outlined.
He added that the incentive for airlines under the discount scheme, which allows reduced charges per passenger when numbers reach those recorded in 2010, will be “most welcome particularly for Shannon Airport because the target figures for Shannon weren’t particularly onerous”.
“The increased promotional fund for tourism is something that we really welcome too. The minister said this money would be spent in consultation with the airports and the tourism interests and I would urge Minister Noonan and Minister Varadkar to grant a minimum of €500,000 for the marketing of Shannon Airport. The airport’s sub-committee on marketing has had some very innovative plans for marketing the airport but is bereft of funding to complete an ambitious programme and an amount of about €500,000 would yield great returns to the region. I would hope that that element of the initiative produced by the Government would find its way to the marketing sub-committee at Shannon and be spent directly by the region,” Mr Vaughan continued.
Shannon Development described it as “a great, great start and a positive and welcome step” for the region.
“The abolition of the travel tax can only be positive and the way it is being constructed is as a business proposition between Government and carriers. The Government has dropped the airport tax on the condition that the airlines deliver increased passenger numbers. We are very positive and I think Shannon can only benefit from that. The combined package of that and decreased passenger charges is very good because it creates new business and gives an additional incentive to carry more passengers. From the point of view of sustaining targets and setting new ones, it is a good policy position,” commented Pat Daly, tourism division manager with Shannon Development.
Director of Shannon Airport, Mary Considine described the programme as a “timely boost” for Shannon Airport.
Ms Considine said Shannon Airport is eager to work with its airline partners to ensure opportunities are maximised for the benefit of the region.
“We welcome these initiatives, which are an extremely important and timely boost for our efforts to develop new services at Shannon Airport and support our existing routes. The Growth Incentive Scheme devised by our parent company, the Dublin Airport Authority, for the three State airports will be of particular benefit to Shannon, as airlines will be rebated all passenger charges for every new passenger they deliver once the airport surpasses the 1.755 million passenger mark we achieved last year.”
Under the scheme, airlines using Shannon will be rebated €12.65 per departing passenger for every passenger delivered over and above the threshold.
“Even at this stage of the year, we are confident that 2011 will see an increase in passenger numbers at Shannon Airport,” according to Ms Considine.