Tourist spending tops €4.9bn despite our weather and roads

ONE in five foreign visitors to Ireland complain about the cost of living, bad roads and the weather they experience when they visit the country.

But a new raft of tourism statistics released yesterday show that more people were coming here last year than ever before.

What they liked most were the people and the scenery.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the number of overseas trips to Ireland grew by 27pc to more than eight million between 2000 and 2007.

Most of our visitors come from the UK, and over half of all trips were for holiday purposes, with the State earning a just over a massive €4.9bn in 2007 alone, a CSO study of tourism between 2000 and 2007 showed. But, predictably, a lot of people didn't like our prices or climate. The most frequently mentioned disadvantages were the weather (19pc), the prices (18pc) and roads (17pc).

On the plus side, the Irish people were mentioned by 38pc of visitors as the top advantage along with scenery (32pc) and our culture (17pc). Dublin was the most popular region in 2007 with 61pc of visitors spending at least one night in the region and the Guinness Store House was the most popular attraction.

The entry fee has swelled to €15 in recent years but last year 947,000 people paid the price with the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare the second most visited tourist attraction. The CSO figures also reveal the scale of the Celtic Tiger boom years. Irish people made 7,942,000 domestic trips in 2007 spending €1.5bn in the process. Domestic trips grew by 45pc since 2000 and expenditure almost doubled.

We made 7,830,000 foreign trips in 2007 which was more than twice that in 2000. Foreign holiday trips increased by 145pc in this period. Total expenditure on all foreign trips amounted to just over €7.3bn.

Shopping remains a favoured activity, particularly to North America where shopping accounts for nearly 22pc of spending in what the CSO called a "well-established phenomenon in recent years".

Foreign holiday trips taken in the first and last quarters of the year almost trebled between 2000 and 2007. The most popular activity taken on domestic holidays by Irish residents in 2007 was visiting National Parks while for overseas visitors it was hiking/hill walking.

Ireland Map

Shoppers Break For The Border

The border towns and cities of Northern Ireland are celebrating a Christmas shopping boom, while the rest of the UK is battling against the economic downturn.


Cities like Newry in County Down are seeing an influx of bargain hunters from southern Ireland taking advantage of the weak pound and a 6% difference in VAT rates.

One woman who travelled from Dublin to fill trolley after trolley in Newry said: "I'll be back every week now. The only thing I will buy in Dublin is milk and bread."

At today's exchange rate, one euro is worth around 94 pence.

Another young mum with a trolley stacked high with groceries said the savings were massive.


A weekly shop at home costs her 150 euros (£141), whereas in Newry two weeks worth of shopping costs only 210 euros - around £200.

Irish shoppers are prepared to travel for hours and sit in long queues of traffic over the border for the savings.

The recent VAT cut in the UK to 15%, coupled with a VAT increase to 21% in Ireland has helped fuel the blitz of bargain hunters.

But it's not good news for everyone.


Some 10 miles down the road in the republic, the town of Dundalk is paying the price of Newry's success. Traders are watching valuable customers by-pass their shops and travel north instead.

A few weeks before Christmas and the town's streets have a distinct lack of festive cheer.

Bill Tosh, of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, says: "The (Irish) Government are going to have to listen to the business voice.

"They're going to have to do something, perhaps even short term. We have a different fiscal regime here, but certainly to get this economy on the move here they are going to have to do something to incentivise consumers to come onto the streets, onto OUR streets and to spend."

In the past, Irish towns have benefited when different economic conditions pushed northern shoppers south. So businesses in the south will be hoping for the tide to turn again soon, so that they can at least enjoy a prosperous New Year.

1,000 jobs to be created at indoor ski resort in Dublin

Around 1,000 jobs are set to be created at an indoor ski resort being planned for west Dublin.

The €100m facility is due to be constructed in Tyrellstown, with work set to begin next year.

The company behind the plan says it expects more than one million visitors each year.

It says the scheme could inject €30m into the local economy.

Ireland to fall deeper into recession

DUBLIN: Ireland’s top economic think-tank predicted yesterday that the country will plunge further into a painful recession after slashing its growth forecasts for 2008 and 2009.

The latest quarterly commentary from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said the economy is in the midst of a contraction that is large by both historic and international comparisons.

The ESRI forecasts gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink by 2.4 percent this year and 3.9 percent in 2009. It also expects gross national product (GNP) next year to fall by 4.6 percent.

In October, the think-tank had said that the country’s first recession since 1983 would not be as deep and forecast GDP would contract by 1.3 percent this year and 0.7 percent in 2009.

Coming after an anticipated contraction of 2.6 percent in 2008, the accumulated fall in output is dramatic, the think-tank said.

GNP is regarded by the government as a more accurate barometer of the country’s economic performance as it strips out substantial profits earned by multi-national companies in Ireland which are taken out of the country.

Ireland entered recession during the first half of 2008, becoming the first eurozone nation to do so, after it declared negative economic growth in the first and second quarters of 2008.

Official data showed Thursday that Ireland’s recession extended into the third quarter of the year, as the country was hit by a slumping property market and the global credit crunch.

Irish gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 1.2 percent in the three months to September at constant prices compared with the second quarter, according to data from the Central Statistics Office.

That followed quarterly contraction of 0.6 percent in the second quarter and 0.4 percent in the first.

On an annual basis, however, the CSO added Thursday that the Irish economy grew by a marginal 0.1 percent in the third quarter, compared with the same period last year.

That followed negative readings in the first and second quarters of 2008.

Ireland has been hammered by the international financial downturn, a domestic property market slump, decade-high unemployment and the worst retail sales figures in 25 years.

Analysts had dubbed Ireland as the Celtic Tiger economy when it began to experience a prolonged period of double-digit growth in the 1990s.

With sterling approaching parity with the euro, Irish exports and tourism are also being hit as Britain has traditionally been a major trading partner.

U2 to release new album in March

Irish rockers U2 are to release their new album in early March 2009, it has been announced.

No Line On The Horizon is the group's 12th studio album and their first since 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

It was originally expected to be released by the end of 2008, but the band announced in September they would continue to write more songs.

The album will be released in the UK on 2 March, with its debut in North America coming a day later.

'Versions and incarnations'

The band began work on the album a couple of years ago with US producer Rick Rubin, who is best known for working with Run DMC, Johnny Cash, Beastie Boys, and Red Hot Chili Peppers.


However, these initial sessions were eventually shelved.

"We actually laid all that stuff to one side," guitarist The Edge told Mojo magazine last month. "None of the Rick material went into this project. Everything has been written subsequently."

However, the star added the band will "get back to the material we started with Rick at some point".

Long-time collaborators Brian Eno and Danny Lanois were drafted in, recording in Morocco, New York, London and the band's own studio in Dublin.

When asked what the album sounds like The Edge said: "It's a record of two halves. One half is songs that came virtually fully-formed out of sessions we did with Brian and Danny.

"Then the other half is material we've kicked around a while and went through the usual cycle of versions and incarnations.

"It sounds like a U2 album but it doesn't sound like anything we've done before and it doesn't really sound like anything that's happening at the moment."

The group's last record sold more than nine million copies worldwide, and picked up eight Grammy awards, including album of the year and best rock song for lead single Vertigo.

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