Massive plunge in tourist figures. licensing laws and €10 tourist tax did not help.

Run_to_da_hills

Dob74 wrote: »

The 10 euro doesnt help but the price of hotels hear is outragous.
Paid 100 euro for one night in Killarney in a 3 star, which I considered a dump. A room overlooking a carpark.
Paid 100 euro for three nights in Prague for a 4 star, which was top class.
We have priced ourselves out the market. If D4 can drop there prices so can most hotels in the country.

You haven't been in Dublin, Ennis or Limerick recently, seen some hotel B&B's for €60 or less, same were charging over €100 two years ago.

djpbarry

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

You haven't been in Dublin, Ennis or Limerick recently, seen some hotel B&B's for €60 or less, same were charging over €100 two years ago.

According to the CSO, hotel and restaurant prices in Ireland are relatively unchanged compared to 12 months ago (-0.03%).

Dob74

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

You haven't been in Dublin, Ennis or Limerick recently, seen some hotel B&B's for €60 or less, same were charging over €100 two years ago.

They have seem to have got the message in Dublin, stayed in D4 hotel was only 40 euro a night. Was trying to book in Kerry it was still over 150 a night for a pretty ordinary hotel.
These hotels are not living in the real world. They are not competing with the next county. But with locations all over the global

Bottle_of_Smoke

I'd say its mainly to do with losing UK tourists due to the strong euro.

Though would also say, people book ryanair because of really low flight costs, the €10 tax each way can generally double that amount and it put them off ireland. No doubt.

nayorleck114

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

How can someone come here to enjoy themselves when they get kicked out on to the streets by 2.30AM in most night clubs. (2.00AM in Ennis)

Believe me this is not driving people away from Ireland!! its the high prices no the early closing of some nightclubs/

jimmycrackcorm

Can't see why Ryanair complain about the travel tax when they have their own travel taxes charges. also the tax is insignificant for the sizeable proportion of travellers who have to park at the airport.

slimjimmc

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

I'd say its mainly to do with losing UK tourists due to the strong euro.

Though would also say, people book ryanair because of really low flight costs, the €10 tax each way can generally double that amount and it put them off ireland. No doubt.

It's not each way, it's a departure tax. Many other countries have it too which is why you end up paying their tax on the return trip.

As undesireable such a tax is, Ireland is not unique among European countries in raising air taxes, others include UK, Belgium, the Netherlands (source... like the title). For example the UK is steadily increasing taxes, applicable to both domestic and international routes, from the current £10 to £11 in Nov '09 and £12 in Nov '10 (source). So in reference to an earlier post re Ireland v Wales, you have to pay a higer tax to leave the UK. (£10=€11.76)

Run_to_da_hills

nayorleck114 wrote: »

Believe me this is not driving people away from Ireland!! its the high prices no the early closing of some nightclubs/

Its the bad value for such a short period of service. Most nightclubs do not kick off until at least 12.30, your out the door in less than two hours.

Bottle_of_Smoke

slimjimmc wrote: »

It's not each way, it's a departure tax. Many other countries have it too which is why you end up paying their tax on the return trip.

As undesireable such a tax is, Ireland is not unique among European countries in raising air taxes, others include UK, Belgium, the Netherlands (source... like the title). For example the UK is steadily increasing taxes, applicable to both domestic and international routes, from the current £10 to £11 in Nov '09 and £12 in Nov '10 (source). So in reference to an earlier post re Ireland v Wales, you have to pay a higer tax to leave the UK. (£10=€11.76)

That's a good point. I still don't think it provides a net benefit though. If we didn't have it there'd be a selfish advantage for Ireland over other destination countries. I know its tiny compared to overall holiday costs but really cheap ryanair deals often trigger a holiday idea and sway your decision. Even if it shouldn't!

Fulton Crown

Most posts about price,price price eh ?

What about service and an item nobody mentioned - value ?

Sadly the hospitality industry seems largly to have forgotten this aspect.

The rip off and get rich quick merchants are everywhere and will rip you off at every opportunity...like the pubs on Rugby weekends.

Witness those jarvey fellows down in Kerry who are on a nonsensical strike at the height of the so called tourist season.

Witness the taxi drivers who ripped us off for years until the Government grew some balls an sorted them out.

Go into most hotels an what do you get ? A Po faced foreigner at the desk with about as much personality as a sack o spuds .. no sense of "welcome" "thanks for your business" or anything.

Will you come again...do they care..nah buddy....of course not.

:mad: Ah well !

EastWallGirl

Dont blame the foreign employee at the front desk, blame the managemement that hired them without a care, same as any manager that hired people that didnot speak adequate english, it is not the employee' fault it is the fault of greedy management and owners.

I have lived here for 6 years and it has barely registered to friends and family back in Australia. I am thinking of moving to Italy and I am already innundated with people planning on visiting and I am not planning on living in an area that would be considered on the tourist trail.

I have travelled and I have never looked at the departure tax and I doubt many other peole do either.

Travellers are not that interested in pubs and clubs in my experience, unless they are backpackers or have planned a trip specifically for that.

The thing is the the accommodation, food and atmosphere are over rated and too expensive.

That being said those that have visited they have had a great time because I have a little itinerary that works and I know where to take them for lunch. They have not been that interested in pubs.

If my Irish husband will not go away for a weekend in Ireland (it is me that convinces him to go) then good luck with convincing the rest of the world.

topper75

Can anyone honestly really say when looking at the Ryanair site, or the site of any other airline, that they regard €0.01 as a cheap flight but cannot regard €10.01 as a cheap flight?

I mean is anyone going to have a look instead at an alternative destination on that basis? You want to see this island or you don't I feel. Some posters here need to study 'price elasticity of demand' in an economics book.

Joey the lips

topper75 wrote: »

Can anyone honestly really say when looking at the Ryanair site, or the site of any other airline, that they regard €0.01 as a cheap flight but cannot regard €10.01 as a cheap flight?

I mean is anyone going to have a look instead at an alternative destination on that basis? You want to see this island or you don't I feel. Some posters here need to study 'price elasticity of demand' in an economics book.

+1 would have plus 1000 if it were representitive of my feelings. Well said

Fulton Crown

[

QUOTE=EastWallGirl;61165869]Dont blame the foreign employee at the front desk, blame the managemement that hired them without a care, same as any manager that hired people that didnot speak adequate english, it is not the employee' fault it is the fault of greedy management and owners.

Wasn't blaming them...just stating the facts as it is..would agree that management are responsible for setting the behaviour standards.

But again my main gripe is that if you have a po faced anybody at the check in desk...they should be moved...rapido.

I have lived here for 6 years and it has barely registered to friends and family back in Australia

.

This would be different to most Irish peoples experience !!

The thing is the the accommodation, food and atmosphere are over rated and too expensive

.

Agreed ! But see previous post re Hotels in Killarney..they are not getting the message.

But a welcome and good service and a value your business attitude will go some way to redress this.

Terrontress

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Most posts about price,price price eh ?

What about service and an item nobody mentioned - value ?

Sadly the hospitality industry seems largly to have forgotten this aspect.

The rip off and get rich quick merchants are everywhere and will rip you off at every opportunity...like the pubs on Rugby weekends.

Witness those jarvey fellows down in Kerry who are on a nonsensical strike at the height of the so called tourist season.

Witness the taxi drivers who ripped us off for years until the Government grew some balls an sorted them out.

Go into most hotels an what do you get ? A Po faced foreigner at the desk with about as much personality as a sack o spuds .. no sense of "welcome" "thanks for your business" or anything.

Will you come again...do they care..nah buddy....of course not.

:mad: Ah well !

Good post. I went to Iceland before and stayed in Reykjavik. It wasn't cheap, between €5 and €8 for a pint, main courses €25, but it was great value. The food was so good, big portions, great staff, no tipping culture, every pub had English magazines, nowhere too busy.

I've been to Tokyo, Paris, Munich. All deemed to be expensive cities but the truth is that if you have lived in Dublin, nowhere is THAT expensive.

But there are varying levels of value in the cities I have mentioned and based on my experience I'd put Paris and Dublin at the bottom.

Fulton Crown

topper75 wrote: »

Can anyone honestly really say when looking at the Ryanair site, or the site of any other airline, that they regard €0.01 as a cheap flight but cannot regard €10.01 as a cheap flight?

I mean is anyone going to have a look instead at an alternative destination on that basis? You want to see this island or you don't I feel. Some posters here need to study 'price elasticity of demand' in an economics book.

Go the top ! Spot on pal !!

djpbarry

EastWallGirl wrote: »

Travellers are not that interested in pubs...

Tourists aren’t interested in Irish pubs? Are you kidding? There are any number of pubs in this country that cater almost exclusively for tourists.

People who come here are unlikely to ride a horse through the waves and won’t always be bothered to get a round of golf in. But they’ll all go to the pub. Every one of them will get out their Rough Guide and seek out some mid-week trad session, at which they’ll feel like they’re enjoying the real Irish experience, even when the only Irish there might be the musicians.

Or they’ll sit over their glass of Guinness for an hour, sipping it with suppressed nausea, but happy that they’ve ticked it off the list.

Every one of them will do that. Because that’s what people do when they come to Ireland. They go to the pub.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/0627/1224249640019.html

Terrontress

And we're the most expensive in the EU for booze according to this

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0716/breaking37.htm

So it's no wonder they're staying away. I won't lament the loss of pubs when they go under.

RiverWilde

I'm not surprised that the number of tourists visiting has dropped. This little country is far too expensive for what we have to offer and when you add in poor service it becomes a joke.

I was born and raised here and I refuse to 'holiday' here. The cost is simply too high. I can take my family to Europe for a cheaper and better holiday than can be had for the same money here.

In these poor economic times where money is scarce people won't pay over the odds for anything. Well I know I won't.

Riv

topper75

Terrontress wrote: »

And we're the most expensive in the EU for booze according to this

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0716/breaking37.htm

So it's no wonder they're staying away. I won't lament the loss of pubs when they go under.

LOL! :pac::pac::pac:

Man: Fancy a holiday darling?
Wife: Sure - where should we go? There are oodles of destinations to choose from.
Man: I don't know, whereever the booze is cheap I suppose.
Wife: Why don't I go and acquire a comparitive table of booze prices across Europe and we can use that as the basis for our decision.
Man: Splendid.

jimmmy

I'm also not surprised that the number of tourists visiting has dropped. The government has raised taxes ( eg the travel tax, and vat ) instead of decreasing them. The govt should cut expenditure + curt taxes. Michael O'Leary has been proved right yet again. Pity we had not him running the country.

astrofool

topper75 wrote: »

LOL! :pac::pac::pac:

Man: Fancy a holiday darling?
Wife: Sure - where should we go? There are oodles of destinations to choose from.
Man: I don't know, whereever the booze is cheap I suppose.
Wife: Why don't I go and acquire a comparitive table of booze prices across Europe and we can use that as the basis for our decision.
Man: Splendid.

Man: Do we go to Ireland again, which cost us a lot, or the UK, or another country which cost us a little?

topper75

astrofool wrote: »

Man: Do we go to Ireland again, which cost us a lot, or the UK, or another country which cost us a little?

Costs? - a factor for sure astrofool.
Cost of booze - as some people like to say here, 'meh'. It's a red herring, as is the travel tax and restricted clubbing hours.

astrofool

topper75 wrote: »

Costs? - a factor for sure astrofool.
Cost of booze - as some people like to say here, 'meh'. It's a red herring, as is the travel tax and restricted clubbing hours.

So costs are a factor, but the cost of drink, which people consume more of on holiday, amounting to a significant percentage of their cost on a holiday, is not. How does that work?

topper75

astrofool wrote: »

So costs are a factor, but the cost of drink, which people consume more of on holiday, amounting to a significant percentage of their cost on a holiday, is not. How does that work?

I refer to other costs being a factor, such as dining out, petrol, accommodation, admission to attractions.

Consuming more booze on holiday is not characteristic of the average tourist travelling around Ireland. It's definitely a characterstic of the average Irish person travelling abroad, maybe that is where you are coming from! :pac:

The average Swiss guy or Canadian girl or British family might hit a pub at some point to have a look and hopefully see some trad and chat with the locals. You are talking about somewhere in the region of 10 pints of Guinness over a week, each costing €4.50 or so. Reducing that price, to let's say - €3.20, doesn't exactly give them a massive saving on their holiday and make them think ah I should have gone to Belgium instead. They don't really give a monkeys when they are really chasing old castles, a quiet way of life, dramatic scenery, and a bit of folk music/dancing.

ArmaniJeanss

Terrontress wrote: »

And we're the most expensive in the EU for booze according to this

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0716/breaking37.htm

I'm not claiming that we're like cheap for booze or anything, but that Irish Times survey seems pretty garbaged.

They mentioned Denmark as being the only EU country more expensive than us, however they haven't mentioned Sweden or Norway. There is absolutely no way that we are dearer for alcohol than either Sweden or Norway.

France to an extent as well, perhaps not wine, but beer is definitely more expensive. Unless they have compared Dublins 'Cafe en Seine' type places against the cheapest spit-on-the-floor establishement in the middle of some Brittany hamlet.

In general I agree that the €10 tax may be making a difference. It could be the tipping point, people got used to even the 'free-est' flights being €90 return. Now this extra €10 has brought it over the physcological €100 barrier.

djpbarry

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

There is absolutely no way that we are dearer for alcohol than either Sweden or Norway.

The article doesn’t claim that we are – it states that Ireland is the second most expensive nation in the EU for alcohol and tobacco. Norway’s not in the EU, by the way.

djpbarry

topper75 wrote: »

Consuming more booze on holiday is not characteristic of the average tourist travelling around Ireland.

You haven’t been to Temple Bar lately, have you? Granted, the sort I’m referring to are not always the most welcome “tourists”, but they bring with them the moolah, which we desperately need right now.

bangersandmash

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

I'm not claiming that we're like cheap for booze or anything, but that Irish Times survey seems pretty garbaged.

It's not an Irish Times survey, but a general consumer survey conducted by Eurostat (i.e. the statistical services arm of the EU). I'd imagine they were rather statistically rigorous.

A PDF of the full report is here and they provide information on their methodologies.

As for France being anecdotally more expensive for beer than Ireland, I'd be very skeptical about that unless you're talking about Paris or Cannes. You don't have to go to a Brittany hamlet to find reasonably-priced beer in France.

A €10 tax is unlikely to be a major deterrent unless potential tourists are completely oblivious to the cost living in Ireland. And if they are, I wonder how they'll react to paying €6.50 for a poorly poured pint in one of our fine establishments in Temple Bar. Two warm pints of Heineken later and they've already exceeded the airport tax.

Terrontress

Is it such a bad thing losing the booze focussed tourism?

People staggering round Temple Bar being sick into their kebabs and fighting.

We're becoming like Amsterdam where we have so much to offer yet people just want to go for the lowest common denominator.

It may cause financial hardship in the first place but that kind of tourism is the sort we can do without.