IWAK: agree that here is huge inbound potential from Germany and France during the summer season. I remember about 10 years ago when there were flights from Amsterdam, berlin,Frankfurt,Munich and dusseldorf along with the recntlylost Zurich each Saturday.
And those accents were noticeably absent from many of the Wests scenic areas during the boom years. It's a pity they lost Zurich as the whole focus of European flights now is outbound bucket and spade, with a little inbound tourism coming from the UK routes.
Yet Tourism Ireland marketing is almost 100% focused on Dublin and Kerry. You only need to look at the mess airline magazines and travel websites make when they profile the airport with dull recounts of visits to Knock shrine, completely missing the wood for the trees.
We have a very good tourism product in the West with some of the best the scenic attractions in Europe, perfect for family, tour and green holidays in an area that has retained some of the old Irish charm. We now have very modern affordable hotel accommodation, most with spas and pools, many wonderful restaurants, museums, festivals and cultural attractions, as well as improved transport and tourism infrastructure (airport, roads, public transport, western greenway trails etc).
But whats is needed is an integrated approach to marketing and packaging that product under one Western brand along with flights and supporting rich information website so it is accessible to a would be visitor.
The tourism minister should be setting out that vision and making the various tourism bodies to work together to identify key target markets in France, Germany, Italy, and work with travel agents and airlines to develop seasonal routes and fund a marketing drive to create that awareness.
But we're dealing with civil servants here so wont hold out much hope of an vision
