Northern Holidaymakers

Firblog

Walking thru Donegal town today an saw alot of northerners down for the 12th, and thought just how good are they for the economy? (remembered seeing a group of (seemingly) affluent 50 year olds in a hotel bar in killybegs a few years ago sneaking drink out of a handbag)

slimboyfat

If Donegal didn't have the Northen Holiday makers, this county would be in total ruins, alot of people depend on their money to make a living either directly ( shops, hotels, bars, caravan parks, resturants ) or indirectly ( industry that supllies all the shops, bars etc ).

Firblog

Dunno if they that much of a help, think most take everything with them from home. Rarely hear northern accent in any restaurants - then again I don't be in many myself...

oranbhoy67

Firblog wrote: »

Dunno if they that much of a help, think most take everything with them from home. Rarely hear northern accent in any restaurants - then again I don't be in many myself...

that right there could be why your not hearing many!

Cee-Jay-Cee

I dont want to be too controversial but IMO they contribute very very little (if anything at all) to the local communities in which they stay/visit. The vast vast majority bring their own food and drink with them and in my own experience the only thing they leave behind is their rubbish. I have personal experience of this and i'm not just shooting from the hip!

The only businesses that profit from northerners is petrol station owners in border areas and thats not just a seasonal thing.

slimboyfat

CJC999 wrote: »

I dont want to be too controversial but IMO they contribute very very little (if anything at all) to the local communities in which they stay/visit. The vast vast majority bring their own food and drink with them and in my own experience the only thing they leave behind is their rubbish. I have personal experience of this and i'm not just shooting from the hip!

The only businesses that profit from northerners is petrol station owners in border areas and thats not just a seasonal thing.

Well if you go to aeras like Downings, Dunfanaghy, Bundoran, Portnoo, Poartsalon and take away all the northerners, look at you will have left and I bet if you ask any businesses or people employed in those areas who they survive they on for a living, my bet is they will say the northern holiday makers.

Sure they bring food and beer with them, with some things costing twice to what they pay at home, I bet most people would do the same, I know I would.

Madam

It's easy seen none of you have been in Bundoran or Ballyshannon at this time of year where the Northern Irish are everywhere, in pubs restaurants and shopping too or just buying ice cream along the road:)

oranbhoy67

slimboyfat wrote: »

Well if you go to aeras like Downings, Dunfanaghy, Bundoran, Portnoo, Poartsalon and take away all the northerners, look at you will have left and I bet if you ask any businesses or people employed in those areas who they survive they on for a living, my bet is they will say the northern holiday makers.

Sure they bring food and beer with them, with some things costing twice to what they pay at home, I bet most people would do the same, I know I would.

Spot on.. Some of these towns are like ghost towns the rest of the year.. its the Northeners keeping these places going.. & look at the amount of people here who go shopping in the North.. & no wonder with the Republics disgraceful rip-off prices!

kellso81

CJC999 wrote: »

I dont want to be too controversial but IMO they contribute very very little (if anything at all) to the local communities in which they stay/visit. The vast vast majority bring their own food and drink with them and in my own experience the only thing they leave behind is their rubbish. I have personal experience of this and i'm not just shooting from the hip!

I've been staying in Donegal with my family and friends at least two or three times a year, every year for the past thirty years. Stayed in numerous hotels/holiday lets, drank in too many bars to remember, and more often than not ate out wherever we were whether in a restaurant or cafe! So I think your talking through your pipe!

Firblog

Just today one fellow with a Nothern accent came into my place of work - not a pub or restaurant - and asked if he could use the loo.... Didn't buy anything or say thanks... (or bring his own bog roll)

slimboyfat

Firblog wrote: »

Just today one fellow with a Nothern accent came into my place of work - not a pub or restaurant - and asked if he could use the loo.... Didn't buy anything or say thanks... (or bring his own bog roll)

I see your point.....................there's a serious lack of public toilets around where you work!!

oranbhoy67

Firblog wrote: »

Just today one fellow with a Nothern accent came into my place of work - not a pub or restaurant - and asked if he could use the loo.... Didn't buy anything or say thanks... (or bring his own bog roll)

Could haven been worse! He could have brought his own northern bog roll with him!!

jar18

go into any pub in the kerrykeel,portsalon area and most of the northeners are taking their drink out of bags. they also think they own the roads when they are here.

oranbhoy67

Wow .. youd think in this day & age people would be doing all they can to encourage tourists to come to our county instead of moaning about them!

jar18

well,,,if you lived in this area you wouldnt be be saying that..

oranbhoy67

I live in Donegal & travel thru the county & i know that without tourists then this County would be far worse off than it already is.. this County has long been ignored by Dublin & we should be glad that so many Northeners come thru here .. not moaning about a minority who might smuggle a few drinks into the pub.. ive worked on the doors of nightclubs here & believe me theres plenty of locals that do the same.. i dont drink myself but with the price of drink here i dont blame them!

Senna

They do spend in local business, but just nowhere near the amounts they would have when there was 30-40% in the exchange rates. A bus full of 50 Scottish tourist would spend more in 3 days than 200 northerners would spend in a week.
I'm glad they come here, but i just wish they wouldn't take their own drink wherever they go.

Durnish

Funny, it's all true, both sides. The rubbish, yes, I find it dificult to explain to people that they are responsible for their own waste, the plastic bottles, the tins the glass bottles. This is because the UK tax system supports public services like waste collection and people take it for granted. The food and drink, well, yes we now bring a lot of food from the north but so do Donegal people. The exchange rate is not with sterling at the moment. Witness also the continual themes on this board about how to bring (smuggle?) oil in drums over the border, never mind the problems about northern registered cars driven by Donegal drivers.
I think it best not to dwell on driving habits.

Now for the good news. Donegal has always been a Janus county, looking both ways, but mostly north-east.
My parents brought six children, two cousins and their parents here to Portnoo in the sixties. This year about a hundred of us are coming back for a wedding. Many are flying so won't be bringing in food and drink. That's a big return to the local shops, cafes and bars for kindness and generousity of spirit shown to us UK "visitors" in the Sixties.

Up the Republic, here's to the smell of peat as you cross the border at Pettigo, the Oatfield Orange Chocolates, if you can find them, and the men scything the hay fields.

NIMAN

As a Northerner living in the South, and close to places where Northerners would come for a day out/weekend, I can see both sides.

Yes they do leave rubbish around, but any more than everyone does?

Yes they often bring their own food and drink to caravans/holiday homes. Can you blame them? We are in a recession and the prices of food/drink in Ireland is still much higher than NI.

But they do pay big fees for their rent on these holiday homes. And they do spend money at times in the South. To say they spend nothing is nonsense. If its made more competitive then they would spend more.

I still shop in the North for big grocery shops. I'm no martyr and simply refuse to pay the prices they charge in the South. I make no apologies. Reduce the prices and I will shop South.

fontanalis

There is a chance Donegal tourists are the Northerners of other counties anecdotes.

rightyabe

The Northerners around my part of Donegal who come to caravans etc. dont spend alot if there only staying a week all I can see is Asda bags coming out of the car, but if they stay longer they have to shop local then.

Alot of them when there leaving clean their caravan and then head down to the beach in the car and fill the public bins at the beach with the rubbish from the caravan, I've even had people tell me "isn't it great we can use these bins"

All they buy in the local pub is ice, and I think thats free...but who can blame them pubs are very expensive places for a night out. A litre of lager in a pub is around €6.60 (If a pint is €3.70) whereas you can buy 6 cans (3 litres) for about a tenner.

So I think they do bring a bit of good to the local economy, with the odd scrooge in between them, Its better to have some people around rather than it being a ghost town...and dont get me started on there driving!!!:mad:

NIMAN

So would you rather they just stayed in NI then, since they add nothing at all to the economy, and do nothing but ruin the environment and spoil the countryside?:rolleyes:

rightyabe

NIMAN wrote: »

So would you rather they just stayed in NI then, since they add nothing at all to the economy, and do nothing but ruin the environment and spoil the countryside?:rolleyes:

Not at all I also love standing in a que in a shop wile a Nordy counts all his wee tiny 1 and 2 cents....:D

But seriously its better to have them than not have them, alot of them build house out here to and fix up old houses etc. which creates work.

There not all bad only a small minority give them a "bad" name.:)

Cee-Jay-Cee

NIMAN wrote: »

So would you rather they just stayed in NI then, since they add nothing at all to the economy, and do nothing but ruin the environment and spoil the countryside?:rolleyes:

If it were my choice...yes.

muffler

CJC999 wrote: »

If it were my choice...yes.

Thankfully it's not.

Firblog

Dunno about ppl who excuse the taking drink into pubs / disco's etc because of the price, personally if I can't afford to buy a drink in a pub I won't go into one... If I can't afford to go out and enjoy myself on holidays I won't go on a holiday. I'd rather knock about home an go out and about enjoying myself, rather than go somewhere -spend money on accommodation - and scrimp on the entertainment/food/drink etc.

I suppose that overall they do have a positive impact on the local economy - spending more money than it costs to service their needs - but in a lot of cases they're actually a drain on our resources.

fontanalis

Firblog wrote: »

Dunno about ppl who excuse the taking drink into pubs / disco's etc because of the price, personally if I can't afford to buy a drink in a pub I won't go into one... If I can't afford to go out and enjoy myself on holidays I won't go on a holiday. I'd rather knock about home an go out and about enjoying myself, rather than go somewhere -spend money on accommodation - and scrimp on the entertainment/food/drink etc.

I suppose that overall they do have a positive impact on the local economy - spending more money than it costs to service their needs - but in a lot of cases they're actually a drain on our resources.

Source?

killerbeg

fontanalis wrote: »

Source?

Well I don't think we should be required to provide a 'Source' for supporting data on an opinion driven forum but surely it's obvious that someone who spends time and not money in an area is by definition a drain on the local resources? Unless of course they are the type of visitors who go around randomly fixing roads and mending broken street lights.:)

muffler

killerbeg wrote: »

Well I don't think we should be required to provide a 'Source' for supporting data on an opinion driven forum

Mod hat on: What was posted was a statement and not an opinion and people, whether they like it or not, are responsible for their posts and are entitled to be asked for a "source" where and when appropriate

muffler

Im just wondering would a poll be useful here?

slimboyfat

Found a report from 2006 http://www.wdc.ie/wp-content/uploads/reports_WR-KeyStatistics-Section-6.pdf , it shows that tourists spent over €67 million that year ( page 5 ) in the north west region ( which consists of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo ) and they accounted for over 20% of total tourist numbers to visit that region in that year.

To me these figures speak for themselves and anybody who says that they don't contribute to the Donegal economy is living cloud cuckoo land.

With the current state of the ecomony both here and in NI, naturally these figures will be dropping year on year but they still will spend money that is essential to the economy of Donegal.