I agree, innovative thinking will always pay dividends. When the Volvo Ocean race came to Galway it was a huge success. Free music, a festival feeling and an agreement from most local retailers and publicans NOT to rip off the tourists were key to it working. I hope its an even bigger success for them this year!

I was in Australia and barely saw one advert for a whole year on visiting Ireland.
Growing economies like Israel,Brazil and India are not tapped Into enough.
Irish tourism is over reliant on the USA and UK

Hi there just wondering why there are no posters of adds for the south of Ireland in the new T2 arrivals at Dublin airport !!! All advertisements are for the north of Ireland !!!

The industry needs to start communicating with non-English-speaking visitors in their own language. In a recent survey, just one in five hotels on the island of Ireland had a multilingual website. Language needs to be at the centre of everything we do as a tourist nation, particularly if we want to extend our reach and grow our tourist numbers outside the traditional markets of the US and UK. What about China and the BRIC countries? How can we even contemplate a tourism strategy for this bloc when we can’t even communicate with our nearest neighbours in their own language?

I live in Drogheda, a ghost town, but one that should be able to take advantage of its proximity to the Boyne Valley for it’s tourism potential. When I was a boy we had an American relative, everyone has one, he was quite a sprightly elderly retired engineer with an opinion on everything he saw and my brother and I used to have a laugh at his expense but, looking back now, maybe he was right with a lot of what he said.
At Termonfeckin beach one day he loved the “untouched quality” of the beach but went on to bemoan that there was no public toilets available, at the time I thought the irony was hilarious, you couldn’t have it untouched and have public toilets but now I can see his point. I still smile though.
He flew into a temper at the sight of traffic driving under “that castle thingy”, he meant St. Laurences Gate, and said that we didn’t deserve it if we weren’t going to look after it and if it was up to him he’d move it stone by stone to America whereit would be preserved. The thought of this at the time just amazed me. Old monuments like St. Laurences Gate and Millmount in Drogheda just blew him away.
Newgrange left him speechless. We liked that. He couldn’t get over the fact that something like that, over 5,000 years old, was kept like a secret at that time within Ireland, virtually nobody had heard of it outside the country, and many within it.
We have to remember America as a country is very young, Columbus only found it by accident barely more than 500 years ago, so buildings and monuments we pass by daily can by 800 or 1000 years old and we don’t give them a second glance. Yeah, they’re old but not really old, sure ye’d have to go to a museum to have to see something REALLY old, well to an American 800 years is 300 before his country was ever discovered. Maybe my old uncle Joe had a point.

Here’s a quote from the Lonely Planet Guide about Ireland:
But it’s well worth looking beyond the tourist tat, for the Emerald Isle (oops, there we go again) is one of Europe’s gems, a scenic extravaganza of lake, mountain, sea and sky that’s still gorgeous enough to make your jaw drop despite the best efforts of developers to scar some of the most beautiful bits with serried ranks of holiday homes.

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ireland#ixzz1oEyy4lpr
Nuff said.

One of my friends used to visit Ireland, not so much anymore. She used to say it was the warmth of the Irish people and their culture that brought her over, and then the greenery and ancient artifacts. But the people were number one. Fast forward to 10 plus years later. She doesn’t recognize the place.She misses the PEOPLE, says she, waving her hand across a very crowded Galway street.

Scotland seems to be doing it right. And it is easier to reach for most english people, so they’d want to watch out. Like the messy Discover Ireland website there seems to be no clear focus of message, just a mess of everything and the kitchen sink, that looks less about relaxing and more stressful than anything.

It has to be attractive to its own people first don’t you think!
Beauty is in the heart of a think….not on the outside!

I have never been enticed by a Bord Failte advert. I’m currently on vacation in Barbados. Cheaper to come here for 2 weeks than go to Clare for 1week.

Rip off Ireland fleecing the tourists as soon as the come in to the place

I love holidaying in Ireland. We have 2 young children and it just makes more sense for us at the minute but I cringe with embarassment at the poor customer service and surly attitudes of a small number of people within the ‘hospitality’ business who don’t seem to give a stuff whether or not you’re happy with your service. The problem is, you will meet 9 people out of 10 who will go out of their way to help make your stay as pleasant as possible but there will be just one who spoils it just a bit. I work as hard as I can to provide a service to people in my own job, is it too much to ask that others do the same? Nevetheless, I will be still holidaying in Ireland this year, any suggestions??

Can they understand that people come to Ireland because they perceive it as a green, unspoilt place with great culture and artifacts, gorgeous scenery and charm – not to see horrible groups of holiday homes or Dallas style mansions with pillors at the door marring areas of natural beauty? Perhaps their first port of call should be to the local councils that give planning permission for such horrors… After that, look at promoting a product that is about what people actually like about Ireland. In fairness, they may already do this! They wil know from their research what people like and dislike about Ireland…

I was in a local pub last night and ordered a bottle of coke and surprise it cost 2.40 euro for a bottle size 200ml. that is equal to 7.1 euro per pint, its no wonder people are not going out to the pubs and the tourists are staying away.

Have a look at the different Céad Míle Fáilte on my website http://www.clarevirtually.ie. It is new, innovative and entertaining with virtual tours of tourism products in Co. Clare. Virtual tours with a difference though. 60 second video tours of the exterior and interior of the tourism product. The most important part of the tour is the welcome from the owner or manager. A welcome greeting straight to camera. The idea is that the potential tourist sees exactly where they will stay, eat or go, but, most importantly WHO they will meet when they knock on the door. After the virtual tour the visitor can then book the accommodation, restaurant, attraction through the link to the tourism providers own website. “Look Then Book”

They need to start selling Ireland to the Irish so we spend our money at home.

They need to get over their obsession with Dublin. People come to Ireland to see the country (green hills, mountains rural backwater places). If they wanted to see another city they would go to London, Paris, new york or stay at home. The are missing the whole novelty of Ireland and why people want to come here.

They don’t know how to get the tourists over.
We don’t cater proper for the adventure type the wilderness type or the scenic type of tourist.
Its a generic 1 fits all approach which fits no one well.

I live in a rural area of County Monaghan. Yesterday, my wife and I picked up 122 plastic bottles and a large bag of assorted rubbish from a 150m section of rural road. Before we encourage tourists to our “green a lovely land” we seriously need to clean up our filthy habits.

The problem is total over-reliance on two markets (U.K and USA) which had been detrimental to Aer Lingus for a start. We need to start looking east. 2 billion people live in China and India alone. And after the visit of the Chinese last month we should be going after them big time. They are the future!!
And as regards hotels here they really need to sort out their menus. Especially the kids menus…not many people would be happy to be forking out big money shovelling goujons or sausages into their kids every night for a week or more. And the language issues need to be addressed. The whole world doesn’t speak the same language as us!!

OH COME ON !!!!!!!! Our National Museums are closed on a monday ! Irish websites like Board Failte are crap ! Those websites were set up and given the go ahead by people that know all the information and dont need a website. But for an outsider its very misleading ! ie: look for information on Collins Museum in Dublin and it gives you three Museums around Dublin and dosent tell you whats in them.

The Irish tourism boards are well behind the times. They need to be working with bloggers, writers and other web folks to get the word out virally. They need to be open to new media and to websites and website editors such as myself (IrishJaunt.com) who promote travel in Ireland. Even VisitWales gets this right – they are super open to bloggesr and have gained so much interest from internet readers and travelers because of their blog trips and social media campaigns. Wise up Discover Ireland!

The government’s fuel taxes are killing off the domestic tourism trade in my opinion. Nowadays you really do have to think twice about hopping in the car to take a trip down the country , even to snap up these hotel deals. It simply costs too much to get there in fuel, as well as paying a fortune in tolls. Do the government not get this? It really is the law of diminishing returns, as well as putting thousands of jobs at risk in tourism industry.

I would love to visit lots of places in my own country, my husband and i have a camper van but the problem is we usually have no where to park as there are barriers up at most places we want to go. I believe people who have campers are forgotten tourists, ireland should take example from france and have more parking that caters for our needs. We always spend time and money where ever we park on the continent. Home grown tourisim is where its at now in the recession.

Things haven#t changed enough.

1. Hotels are ghastly, barely distinguishable from each other, and often grossly overpriced
2. Transport is still awful outside of Dublin
3. Simple things like eating out are not just expensive but often dull and undifferentiated
4. There is still a dreadful tendency to force tourists to the whest and Keeeyre in order to satisfy the needs of those who want to push tourism that way rather than a genuine desire to show Ireland at its best. (For example, Donegal has unspoilt cliffs that would give Moher a good run for their money, and its remotest towns are not honky tonk Oirish affairs like their West Cork and Kerry equivalents).
5. Budget tourism – which will lead into future tourism, is still underdeveloped and focused more on drinking weekends than explorations.

I was at Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepards Bush yesterday (the heartbeat of capitalism in London!) and I passed a team of promoters handing out leaflets to come visit Northern Ireland. My English flatmate was at the cinema yesterday and they had a very attractive ad (his words not mine!) about visiting the Republic of Ireland. I know they’re too separate places but lets have a more joint initiative (maybe we do, just don’t see much evidence of it!)

Every day, Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Discover Ireland have ads in the free newspapers on the tube and buses or papers like the Guardian, Times etc. Many of the redtop buses and tube stations have ads for Ireland aswell. When I lived in Glasgow there wasn’t as much publicity for visiting Ireland but I think they’ve stepped up a gear since then. When I go on the internet, I have small ads about visiting Ireland at the side of my screen because I’m using a British IP address. I would say that they are putting alot of resources into the campaign…and it does get results because I have a few friends coming over on holidays in the next few months.

Ireland should be attracting the London crowd who want to get away from the hussle and bussle of the Olympics. This can only happen with affordable flights, ferries and accommodation.

Ireland has loads to offer…particularly as Brian points out about the Boyne Valley, in heritage. I have friends from around the world that have visited Ireland, and they have indeed been blown away by stuff like our castles, ruins etc. We need to invest money into the upkeep of these sites in a similar light to what English Heritage are doing at the moment. I also have friends that have never visited Ireland and are mad to go…theres definitely a market out there. But some have been put off by how expensive they’ve heard it is.

When we go on holiday abroad we seem to want good value for our money, and unless we get this consider it a disappointment. So why should visitors to Ireland be any different? What can they expect if they come here, cheap booze, good nightlife, can they expect to be safe, will they be treated well?
Or are we guilty of seeing foreign visitors as a resource to be exploited, do we treat them as well as we could, are our scenic beauty spots as safe a place to park a rental car as central Baghdad? Many believe tourism could be a resource that our country could benefit from, if our government could just give breaks to the industry, maybe in the form of tax or VAT. We’re a tiny island on the edge of Western Europe competing with many other countries for tourists and we have to be able to give them value for money, to show them if they come here that yes they can see the Book of Kells, Newgrange and all the things tourists want to see, they can park their can in complete safety, it won’t be broken into and a trip to Ireland will be worth it, and the people are very friendly.

What does the rest of the world want from us? We’ve shown that we’re more than ready to drop our kacks and bend over for anyone prepared to give us money…

They used to run some great television commercials all the time here in America but haven’t seen any in years.

How do people know what Failte Ireland has done outside the country in trying to bring in tourists. Its unfair to say unless you live outside the country. Don’t be so quick to judge

Every fourth Youtube video I watch has an ad for Discover Northern Ireland on it. I doubt the same can be said abroad for us. Likewise, where is the incentive for Irish people to holiday at home? When I was younger we used to go to Lahinch or West Cork every summer. This type of behaviour should be encouraged, as the holidays are great and you’re supporting the local economy.

A ferry to and from the South coast of the UK would be great! A longer sea trip but people dont want to drive all the way to outer Wales and then a 3 hour crossing as well. My friends would sail with the car if they could get here without the long motorway drive first. Then they can bring the dogs camping gear and drive around with all their own stuff. Instead they go to France.

The Rock of Cashel – particularly after the Queen’s visit – should be going all out for visitors, especially UK ones. My recent visit there suggests otherwise….

http://wordsbygina.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/the-queen-we-will-rock-you-just-not-in-cashel/

Ireland has the potential to be one of Europes top tourist destinations , but it will never happen with the current agencies operating in that sector.
These fools are cribbing and crying that not enough tourists are coming to Ireland , how could they when in the last 12 months we have closed down 4 ferry routes into Ireland and shed 40% of our airline capacity , Failte Ireland could’nt recognise a tourist even if they were attacked by one.

a ‘two speed’ recovery what the hell is on about, recovered elsewhere but not here?

there is this fishing match this year…http://www.talkangling.co.uk/upload/match_fishing_talk_match_chat/47499-world_pairs_coarse_angling_championship_lakeland_inland_waterways.html

The problem with the publc service is the lack of tranparency,accountability for every cent should be a given.
Performance related pay index should be standardised inline with private sector pracitce.

Also, with the coming climate change (for which Ireland has contributed plenty of carbon), the country’ll probably be too wet and miserable for anyone to want to visit it in the future… Natural justice, really.