We need more focus on our tourism offering

News last week about tourist and visitor numbers coming into Ireland provide some food for thought. Figures from the Central Statistics Office showed that while tourist numbers and nights spent per visitor for September 2024 were marginally down on the same month the previous year, overall spending was significantly up. Fewer people spending more money.

The figures were announced by Tourism Ireland, the organisation responsible for promoting both Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland overseas. The details are fascinating: 587,100 visitors came to Ireland in September, about half of them on an actual holiday while the rest came to visit family or friends or for business reasons. They spent €1,584 on their trip on average, with the price of accommodation making up about a third of the total spend.

Interpreting the figures of course comes with a lot of caveats. One month does not tell an annual tale, and changes in exchange rates and weather can have a major impact in any one month. You can certainly notice more Americans around this year, but is that because the relatively good autumn we have had has made people more noticeable? 

The press release from Tourism Ireland announcing these figures certainly confirmed what our eyes could see. September was a really strong month for North American tourism to Ireland, with revenue, visitors and nights spent all up on last year. What we gained in visitors coming from our west we lost in those from the east – with fewer travelling from Britain and mainland Europe.

But accepting this is a snapshot, and even if the figures are a little down on the previous year, 587,100 is a lot of people. As we all know in the west, the challenge is to get more of them to come down to our part of the world, as well as or instead of the trip to Dublin and the well-worn tourist tracks. So what do these figures and the trends behind them tell us about what we need to do to achieve that?

The first thing last week’s figures show is fairly obvious. Overall spend by tourists is likely rising not because of their choices but because of the rise in the price of so many things. Hotel costs are a story more well-worn than many a hotel bed, so sufficient to say that it will surprise no one to hear that tourists are paying more to stay in one. We all are doing that. And we will have equally well-worn views as to why that is happening.

Costs have been rising everywhere and what to do about them has been the subject of a lot of debate. But the question I’m most interested in today is not what drives the cost of hotels and other items, but instead what they mean for the kind of visitor we will be able to attract in the future.

We cannot really pretend anymore that Ireland is a cheap place to visit, because it isn’t. That’s true for the west as well as for the east. Value remains important of course but we need to recognise that for whole swathes of people around the world, visiting Ireland is simply not an option. We understand this. In the 1980s, how many Irish people went to Switzerland or Norway on holiday? We, for good or ill, and at least in price terms, are the new Switzerland or Norway.

Given that, it’s not too difficult to predict who is coming to visit Ireland and specifically the west. Tourism Ireland, who are good at knowing the markets, have the evidence. They could give you a detailed breakdown of the income levels and holiday budgets of our potential tourist visitors in countries all over the world.

And while the details might be hard to digest, the trend would be clear. Our visitors are for the most part relatively affluent people. And that means the question for us is simple: how do we attract more of those affluent people to the west of Ireland?

Accessibility is certainly a factor, and roads and flights are vital to that. Thinking about that for the long term, air flights are likely to get more expensive unless someone figures out a way to fly a plane without emitting carbon. As an island, that will only underline the reality that those who can actually afford to come here will have to be fairly well off.

That may mean we sell more expensive whiskeys in the duty free at Ireland West, but it also means we have to be really focused about what can we offer those affluent people to make them want to come here. In a world with lots of options, you must stick out with what you offer: unique, distinctive, and truly memorable. Things that are ‘ok’ won’t cut it. We need landmark destinations and experiences that will catch the eye of the affluent tourist, browsing for holiday options in a way that we all browse now for leisure. And pretending that every place in our region can be a draw for those people is pie in the sky.

What might those landmarks destinations and experiences be, and what does all this mean in practice? Let’s think about what we have already and how we might build on that. The Great Western Greenway was a tremendous success and remains a fabulous piece of our tourist infrastructure. But in a world with an endless appetite for new experiences, what’s next? Greenways are a hot topic around Clew Bay now, but if we want to make visiting that Bay a Camino-like experience, you must be able to cycle around it, and boat from one side to the other. That is the scale we need.

Similarly in North Mayo. Look at the natural V of Killala Bay. What a powerful brand symbol it would make. If you cycled from Kilcummin to Enniscrone and took the boat back in the evening, feasting on lobster after your hard day’s cycle, what kind of tourist would that attract? What kind of money would they pay for it? We know the answer, and we also know that every bit of that experience will need to be as good as what you can get anywhere in the world, combined with the welcome and warmth we do so well.

Projects of this size and scale require investment, and some of that investment needs to be public money. We all know that we haven’t had enough of that over the years. But let’s be honest with ourselves. Calling for public money – from actors outside our region – to solve our problems is not something we need any lessons on. We are good at that. It’s the easiest headline in the newspaper and the quick road to likes on social media. But are we imaginative enough and brave enough to face down all the objections and the cynicism that erupts whenever something visionary is suggested? That, as they say, is an internal problem.

These are the questions that arise in my mind from the figures last week. Yes, we need to cut costs, and yes, we need to improve the value proposition, but value for money is a different thing: if we can create more experiences that are truly memorable for our targeted visitor market, then our tourism industry will thrive. If we don’t, we won’t. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.