An Analysis of the Tourism Industry in Ireland
Ireland is located on the northwestern border of Europe. It borders Great Britain on the West side. Overall, the country is divided in to two administrative units, with Northern Ireland being part of England, while the rest part of the country forms the Republic of Ireland. The tourism sector in Ireland is diverse and is rated among the important economic sector in the country together with others like mining, processing, manufacturing and software development. Ireland has over the years managed to portray a clean and green image to the oversees community thus attracting huge numbers of tourists to the country. Statistics released by Failte Ireland in 2007, indicate that 80 percent of tourists that visit the country cite the scenery as the reason behind their visit, and 74 percent cite the natural unpolluted environment as to why they visited. Another 58 percent said that the main motivation behind their visit is the beautiful architecture of Ireland’s cities and towns (Failte Ireland. 2007)
In the late 20th century, tourism in Ireland was on an upward trend, so much that the sector had become the fastest growing part of the economy. Yet, this has not been without hiccups in the industry. In the 1980’s however, international tourism began to decline hence prompting the government to pump money and resources into the sector in an attempt to rescue it from collapse (Kockel, U, 1994).
Lately, the country is among other countries in the world that bask under the economic benefits accrued from the sector, yet regret the negative effects that tourism has on the environment, culture and social circles (Kockel, 1994).
The tourism industry in Ireland employs 137,000 people (Boniface & Cooper, 2001). Overall, the island has three national parks, inland water ways and several forest parks. The island is also revered for its linear attractions most notably, the Wicklow Way, which is a long-distance footpath and the Grand Canal.
The economic benefits
Apart from the tourism contributions to the overall Gross Domestic Product of the island, rural tourism, which is among the most promoted and government sponsored sub sector is of great support to the local rural market. Apart from stemming rural-urban migration, rural tourism helps keep the Irish culture alive, while creating a market for the handicrafts that the Irish populace makes. Tourism is also a major boost for Irish culture, which includes theatre, international festivals and folk museums.
A perfect example of the contribution of tourism to Ireland’s economy is the 1994-1995 economic year where tourism contributed 2.18 pounds to the exchequer. Both international and domestic tourists accounted for 6.8 percent of the country’s Gross National Product (GNP). Of this, the international tourists contributed 75 percent earnings, while local tourism catered for the remaining 25 percent (Sharma, K, 2004). The economic multiplier effect of tourism was estimated at 1.72.
The 2008 estimates indicate that Ireland registers 7.3 million international tourists annually. The earnings from both international and domestic tourism are estimated at a total of 5 billion pounds (lonelyplanet.com, 2009). In 2009, estimates provided by Bòrd Fáilte (BF) indicated that tourism contributed 4.4 percent of the gross national product with a total amount of 2.2 billion Euros. Of this, 1.9 billion Euros was from foreign tourists. Job creations in the industry by 2002 had hit the 140,000 mark an increase from the 1990 estimates, which indicated that the sector supported 82,000 employees (oecd.org, 2002). This represents a 70 percent increase. According to the 2006 estimates, both revenue and jobs created in the Irish Tourism sector had gone up drastically. The tourisms earnings were estimated at 4.7 billion Euros, while jobs supported by the same accounted for 12 percent of all Irish jobs, and stood at 7.4 million (Failte Ireland, 2007).
Government focus
It was not until the 1980’s that the Irish government acknowledged the role that tourism plays in the economy. With this recognition, the government ordered a review of the Bòrd Fáilte (BF). As a result, BF contracted powers to focus its operations on building the necessary tourism infrastructure, international marketing and constructing tourism facilities (Boniface & Cooper, 2001).
In the 1990’s, the government also injected money into initiatives that sought to extend the marketing initiatives by extending the tourism high-season by boosting transport to and from the country. To achieve this, the government through the FB sought to explore new tourism markets. The FB also developed new tourism products and services targeting niche markets. In addition, the FBN had its eyes on high spending tourists. More so, the governments in the south and North Ireland resolved to market the country as one entity through the “All Ireland Marketing Initiative” (Boniface & Cooper, 2001).
Setbacks
In the period between 1969 and 1972, Ireland tourism registered slow growth due to widespread terrorist threats at that time. The threats were mainly prevalent in Northern Ireland but the effects of the same were felt in the entire Ireland. Political violence in the Northern part of Ireland has also played a major role in marring the island’s reputation as a safe tourism destination (Smith, M &Robinson, 2006).
The fact that Northern Ireland tourism is governed by a different nation state does not help the situation since the rules, tourism promotion and incentives are different from the rest of the country. The Northern Ireland Tourism Board (NITB) is responsible for tourism development in the north, while Bòrd Fáilte (BF) carry out similar duties on the southern side of the island (Smith & Robinson, 2006).
In an effort to counter the effects of the ruling-divide between the North and the South, an agreement between the two administrations was reached in 1998. Under the arrangement, both parties agreed to market Ireland as a single entity. In 2002, Tourism Ireland was incorporated to market tourism in the Island of Ireland (oecd.org, 2002).
It has also been noted that Ireland tourism relies heavily on American and British tourists. In the same manner, most of the island’s tourism marketing efforts target the America’s. The 9/11 New York terrorist attack therefore had negative effects on the entire tourism industry. This over reliance on tourists from specific geographic regions further exposes the tourism sector to negative effects that occur when the region is hit by economic crisis.
Main tourist attractions
Irish Tourism is based on a combination of natural and man made attractions. There are seven natural wonders popular in the island, and an equal measure of renowned man made attractions. “The Giant’s Causeway” ranks top among the natural tourist attraction, followed closely by the Slieve league, The Burren Limestone Plateau, Shannon and Erne Rivers, Sharks, Bog of Allen bog land and finally the Rainbows and scenic night skies(Cronin, 2003). The seven man-made wonders are, the New Grande, which was build hundreds of years ago, the Carrowmore Megalithic cemetery, which is full of monuments aligned at different angles to make a scenic sight and the Round towers. More to this, the high crosses, the book of Kells, Leviathan, Samson and Goliath are also ranked among the man made attraction sites in Ireland. In addition, the island’s rich history, heritage, people and culture play a major role in attracting international tourists. By 1990, 1.2 million hectares of the Irish landscape was classified as scenic, unpolluted and non-commercialized (Sharma, 2003). Most of this land lay to the west of the island.
The Irish landscape offers tourists with sightseeing opportunities, exploration escapades, natural and cultural tours. It is also in the rural areas that tourists can engage in mountain climbing or coastal based activities. The fact that most international tourists preferred the unpolluted destinations gave rise to rural tourism.
Statistics released by BF in 2004 indicate that 56 percent of tourists visited historic sites or castles, while 39 percent visited monuments. 32 percent of the tourists further toured Irish gardens while 31 percent were interested in Heritage centers and interpretive centers (oecd.org, 2004).
Source: oecd.org
Rural Tourism in Ireland
Rural tourism in Ireland is dominated by local communities who work as groups or individuals in order to provide for tourism services. Such includes accommodation, tour guiding services, and transportation among other services that make the tourist experience fulfilling. According to Derek Hall Et al (2005), 80 percent of all rural tourism in Ireland is made up of small and medium scale enterprises. At times, communities pull resources together to provide tourism services to international visitors attracted to the rural areas. This not only creates jobs for the locals, but the local groups are able to draw effective marketing and management plans, which ensures that the tourists are well catered for. The Irish government encourages these forms of tourism catering groups by providing local groups with incentives such as grant aids (Derek, 2005).
The contribution of rural tourism on the development of tourism in Ireland is still not clear. 2002 estimates suggested that it was worth at least 1 billion pounds, which was approximately 30 percent of total tourist earnings at that time (Derek, 2005). For rural tourism to grow in Ireland, more focus is needed in maintaining high quality of services offered to the tourists, ensuring that rural tourism remains unique, adopting innovative marketing approaches to both the domestic and international markets and training the locals in effective communication skills, tourists relations and tour guiding.
Among the benefits that arise from rural tourism in Ireland is that idle land, which is otherwise agriculturally unproductive. This aids in distributing economic prosperity throughout the country. In addition, rural tourism has acted as a catalyst in creating direct and indirect jobs.
Tourism in East Ireland
The eastern part of Ireland is home to the Irish capital city Dublin. Dublin has over the centuries acted as a tourist city due to its proximity to attractive sceneries such as the Vale of Avoca, the Wicklow Mountains and the village of Avoca. Eastern Ireland also has coastal resorts well known for the cultural festivals held there. Tourism activities in this part include mountain climbing, nature walks, sight seeing and attending cultural festivals.
Tourism in West Ireland
The Irish government has overtime encouraged investors and local communities to engage in activities that attract tourists to the west of the island. The west is disadvantaged in agriculture and hence the government believes that tourism is the only other economic activity that can benefit the region (Boniface & Cooper, 2001). In the past, the government provided incentives in order to boost tourism and the effects began to bore fruits in the early 1990’s.
The western part of Ireland is home to lakes Caara, Mask and Corrib. It also has an Indented coast line which is a popular destination for domestic and foreign tourists. Additionally, the mountain climbers can scale up the Connemara Mountains. Other tourist destinations in the western region include the Mohar Cliffs, which are a main limestone scenery area. The Aran Island is also located here.
Tourism in Southern Ireland
The three most famous tourist attractions, Limerick, Killarney and Cork are all located in the south western part of the island. These sites drive thousands of tourists to the area annually. Killarney draws its fame from the 19th century, when it gained international significance as a viable holiday destination (Boniface & Cooper, 2001). The city is served by an international airport, which makes international arrivals easier and boasts of the biggest bed capacity s second only to Dublin. It’s proximity to the Killarney national parks also gives the city a distinctive advantage over other tourist attraction areas in the city.
Tourism in Northern Ireland
Northern Island is an administrative block of the United Kingdom. As such, it tourism policies are distinct from those of the larger Irish Republic. Northern Island has a population of 1.5 million (McCarthy, 2005). The capital city, Belfast, also acts as the main transport hub for international flights and ships. The main attractions in this part of the island are the limestone uplands, Basalt plateau and the coastal areas. The Giant’s Causeway received a world heritage status and attracts thousands of visitors annually. In addition to this, Northern Island is home to the nine Glens of Antrim. These not only attract visitors due to the attractive scenery, but also because many cultural festivals are held at the Glens valley.
A tourist moving from the South to Northern Ireland, would however have to comply with the United Kingdom’s Visa and migration rules. This is because, Northern Ireland remained part of the UK despite the 1998 agreement between the north and south Ireland to market the Island as a single identity (Beige, 2008). There is also the currency issue. North Ireland still uses the sterling Pound while the southern side is now using the Euro as the main legal tender. While the Ireland republic uses Kilometers to indicate road distances, Northern Ireland posts road distance in miles
Effects of Tourism in Ireland
Ireland has its own unique features that keep tourists coming back to the country. Yet, it is evident that the tourism sector in this country is exposed to the rigors that face the tourism sector globally. Such include political instability, perceived insecurity by the tourists and economic fluctuations in the world market.
One of the strengths of the tourism industry in Ireland is the ability of medium-scale enterprises to work with state agencies and government agencies in order to maintain a productive sector (oecd.org, 2004). It is such initiatives that led to a substantial; increase in government expenditure on the sector in the 1990’s. In a policy, Review published by the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2004, both funding from the Irish exchequer and the European Union amounted to 4.3 billion Euros in the ten years period between 1989 and 1999. In addition to this, the review states that an extra 107million Euros was spent on tourism training in the six year period between 1994 and 2000. In 2001 alone, the report estimates that 35 million Euros was spent in advertising campaigns, while an additional 38 million Euros was spent on marketing campaigns. All this expenditure begs the question whether indeed the returns on the investment warrant such kind of investment. This is especially because the returns rely heavily on global trends in demand.
Comparing Investments made on the Tourism Sector against Tourism Arrivals.
Source: www.oecd.org
Negative effects of Tourism in Ireland
One of the outstanding challenges that Ireland faces when dealing with the enormous successes presented by the tourism sector is how to counter the negative effects resulting from with the high number of tourist that tour the country each year.
Of concern is the lack of effective environment management strategy, which has resulted in a steady decline of the beautiful landscape and coastal scenes. More so, Water quality is on a steady down ward trend due to more sewage being directed to water bodies as towns and cities in Ireland build more accommodation to host the increasing number of tourists. Insensitive development by investors has also cost major towns and cities their historic character.
Other environmental issues that the country has to deal with include the increasing threats to bio-diversity, natural resources and costal areas. Over the past five decades, the country has witnessed climate changes because of growing green house gas emissions. For this reason, the government and other authority bodies will have to find ways of coordinating development activities in coastal, urban and rural areas (Failte Ireland, 2007).
Pollution on major Tourist attraction sites
Source: Failte Ireland
In 2003, the European Union, Ireland included was under internal criticism through a commission Communication for its slow progress in encouraging sustainable tourism in the country. The communiqué noted that whilst it was common for responsible organizations to make strategic policies towards sustainable tourism in Ireland, the policies rarely amounted into action (Failte Ireland, 2007).
The commission suggested that the responsible government authorities should influence how tourists related to the environment. In addition, the community suggested that workers in the tourism sector be properly trained on conservancy and related topics.
Other suggested intervention methods included tourism operators using water and energy efficiently, while ensuring that waste is disposed off appropriately. In addition, the responsible authorities were urged to formulate policies that would ensure that tourist traveling have less impact on the environment. It was also noted that there was an urgent need for tourist numbers to be regulated in order to avoid further damage to the environment. These recommendations came at the wake of increased litter and fly-tips in areas most frequented by tourists (Beige, 2008).
In response, the Irish Government together with other stakeholders in the tourism industry set up an action plan for the period lasting between 2007 and 2009. The main objectives of the action plan were to act on the major challenges facing the industry, with the intention of setting up “new horizons’ for the Irish tourism. In the action plan, it was resolved that environmental issues would occupy a central role in policy strategy (Andrereck, K, 1993). The government also committed itself to ensure that environmental tourist assets were protected. In addition, the government took up the responsibility of conducting research in order to establish the relationship between the environment and tourism and finally, the government set an objective of promoting sustainable environmental practices in the development of ecotourism (Failte Ireland, 2007)
Conclusion
Like any other country riding on the successes of tourism would attest, tourism and environment sustainability are strange bed fellows. While gains are made on one, the other looses out. Ireland is no different. However, like all countries that are still struggling with environmental issues in an attempt to maximize the tourism earnings, Ireland too has to strike a balance between environment sustainability and tourism. The “New Horizons for Irish Tourism: An Agenda for Action” is an action plan in the right direction. However, as noted in the 2007 European Union commission communiqué, it is one thing to have enviable policies, and an entirely different thing to implement the policies into effective policies.
In a study carried out by Cawley and others (2004) on the tourism sector in Ireland, it was noted that most tourists have a preconceived image of a beautiful, green Ireland full of scenic landscape and friendly people before their first visit the country. The researchers however noted that a third of tourists who visit the country are disappointed by the reality of the country. A third of second-visit tourist also agreed that the environment had changed for the worse on their return visit. Of reasons cited as their main disappointments were more developments, traffic congestions and air pollution even in small towns. The report concludes that pollution and human development pose the biggest threat to the environment. This should be enough evidence to the Irish authorities that not enough is being done to ensure that tourism expectations are met. It also acts as prove that though the marketing efforts may be working in the overseas market, nothing much is being done to ensure that the image and expectations created in the tourists minds through creative advertisements are met.
Overall, the Irish tourism industry is facing similar challenges that other countries in the world are exposed to. However, the intervening actions by the government may set the future of Ireland apart from other economies that thrive on similar interests. Should the environment degradation, culture erosion and scenic ruin continue unabated, then, the country will loose tourists to other countries which manage their tourism resources better.
References
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