Rip-off Ireland’s service with a sour puss at crazy prices will not cut it

What Ireland has is vibrancy... But business needs to be minded, or it will go elsewhere again, writes Gerard Howlin

Rip-off Ireland’s service with a sour puss at crazy prices will not cut it

Josie Clarke is a hero of mine. Ceaderwood, her B&B in Castletown Geoghegan, oozes character, like the woman herself.

She can give master classes in performing the céad míle fáilte. Tea and scones on arrival complement the chat of a warm welcome. A room at the right price and a full Irish breakfast to warm the heart and harden the arteries. What’s not to like? It’s distinctively Irish, and it’s very local.

The travel thing is ancient. Possibly the oldest tourist guide was Pausanias’ Description of Greece in the first century AD. It dealt a lot with sites of religious interest and local cults of the gods. Pilgrimage, apart from war, was until the 18th century the main impetus to travel.

In the eighth and ninth centuries there had been significant Irish literature about travel to the Holy Land. James Street in Dublin and the Rue Saint-Jaques in Paris were routes across Europe, leading to the shrine of Saint James at Compostela. It’s not gone out of fashion. Indeed, it has never been more popular. People are forever looking for something different, to get out of themselves.

Tourism numbers are up this summer. Even during the economic crash, the industry kept lots of people and places going.

We didn’t mind our business though. When tourism was flying, rip-off Ireland went into full swing and service was served up with a sour puss at outrageous prices. Now we have another chance.

About 77% of tourism businesses reportedly expect this year will be better, according to a Fáilte Ireland survey.

In 2008, only 14% of businesses were as optimistic. It’s big business and a lot of jobs, about 200,000 in fact. Four thousand extra were added last year, and another 5,000 are hoped for this year. But this depends on visitors coming. In a global downturn, we are always going to be hit, regardless. But there are lots of things we can do.

Keep smiling, give value and be creative in responding to people’s impulse to travel. What is it that brings them here?

The Wild Atlantic Way and The Gathering were innovative ideas that reimagine old impulses.

Adventure, self-discovery, and the journey like any pilgrimage being part of the purpose, excite interest. Outside our few and not very big cities, Ireland has an extraordinary sense of space and accessibility. Arriving from almost anywhere else, the decrease in tempo is palpable.

But there has to be an idea. Just being Irish, or 40 shades of green, is not enough. Every journey must have its object. In a crowded world, we have to communicate the purpose of visiting Ireland, as something that appeals. Call it packaging, if you want, it’s about explaining how our countryside, our culture, and cities are experiences worth having, because they are different. And yes, you can come here, have fun, and not have to take out a second mortgage.

On the ground, people like Josie make the promise come true. Big ideas break down into small encounters, and fond memories.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was another great travel book. Have you ever heard of Lambay Rules? Chaucer clearly hadn’t. When planes returning to Dublin circle towards the airport, you can have a stunning view of Lambay Island. The rules are that whatever happened abroad, stays abroad. The tittle tattle of indiscretions on tour, should not be recycled back into the local rumour mill. Storytelling and travel are indelibly linked, however. People travel, even to a stag party, to be part of a story. Every destination is an idea, of sorts.

The postcard, ubiquitous in the 20th century, now made almost redundant by the selfie was the favoured relic of the modern journey. The row about the sale of paintings from Russborough House was really about expensive postcards. Joseph Leeson, its builder, twice went on what in the 18th century was called the grand tour. Sometimes lasting years, these were the beginnings of modern tourism. Art works were their preferred souvenirs.

Gallivanting, cultural tourism gave Leeson and his ilk a sense of adventure. They were excited by an idea of what Italy had been in its Roman heyday. It was a toga party for aristocratic connoisseurs.

The strength of ideas like the Wild Atlantic Way and the anticipated Ireland’s Ancient East trail, promising to open up 5,000 years of history to the visitor, ensure disparate places are captured in an exciting story. Newgrange, Russborough, Kilkenny, and vibrant arts festival are dots on the map, joined together.

I spoke to Seán Connick the chief executive of the John F Kennedy Trust in New Ross, Co Wexford, this week. Facilities include an interpretive centre on the quay, the Dunbrody famine ship moored alongside, and the Kennedy homestead. He is expecting 60,000 visitors this year. That’s incredibly important.

Maybe the most important part of tourism is that it reminds us to better appreciate, what others come from so far away to experience.

Of course, holiday-making is not without its moral hazards. Bathing, in particular, brings temptations to be guarded against.

When Galway’s Salthill was swinging into its heyday Bishop Michael Browne warned that unmarried couples bathing together “was a cause of grave sins which bring shame and dishonour”.

Parents, he insisted, should ensure that their sons and daughters “do not imitate modes of dress and conduct which are foreign to everything we hold as Catholics and as Irish”. Lashing rain frequently spares us the worst of what the bishop feared. Ironically, it is this clash of culture that has put many of the beaches of North Africa beyond the pale. Tourism is an enormous cultural force in the modern world.

No place visited is ever the same, after the visitor leaves.

The Irish identity has been as influenced by John Hinde as WB Yeats. Unlike software, tourism is not a product. It is dynamic in ways that changes the destination. The marrow of the bone of Western Europe is being hollowed out by aging population and an atrophying of major cities into open-air museums. Much big city tourism is excavation of experience, already past. Venice is a magnificent but dying city. Florence isn’t far behind. What Ireland has, is vibrancy. We can make a good living out of it, so long as it remains ‘real’. The reason people come is for an intangible experience. Too much polish and it loses its appeal. Not enough value and there are better places to go.

An upswing in visitor numbers, has seen hotel prices increase especially in Dublin. There is much better value around the country. However, everyone charges what the market can bear. It was a good idea to keep Vat in the hospitality sector at 9%. Taken with the gift of a stronger dollar and sterling, that builds a lot of value into the business. But it is business that needs to be minded, or it will go elsewhere again. Value, like values can be lost.

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