Barely half of potential holidaymakers in Britain, Ireland’s biggest tourism market, consider the State good value for money when it comes to holiday locations, new research from Tourism Ireland has found.
Ireland proved more popular with visitors from further afield, with more than 70 per cent of Americans saying Ireland was “good value” or “premium and worth it”, and 62 per cent in Germany and France. In Britain, the figure was just 53 per cent.
The research, which was carried out with RED C in June, was commissioned to understand the views of consumers on international travel and what would compel them to choose the island of Ireland for a holiday.
It targeted more than 8,000 consumers in eight of Ireland’s top tourism markets – Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Canada and, for the first time, the Netherlands - who have either have travelled internationally in past three years months and/or plan to in the next 12 months, other than for sun holidays only .
READ MORE
“The good news is that among those who have visited, perceptions of value tend to be stronger than among those who have not yet visited, based on experiences visitors have had,” said Tourism Ireland chief executive Alice Mansergh. “So our opportunity is to elevate perceptions of what’s on offer to motivate travel.”
The UK (32.5 per cent) and the United States (25.4 per cent) are, by far, the most important markets for Tourism Ireland with Germany in third accounting for just 6.5 per cent of visitors, according to the most recent Central Statistics Office figures for July.
Inbound tourism numbers are down by 11 per cent so far this year, according to the CSO, although the July numbers were short of last year by a more modest 1.4 per cent. Tourism Ireland notes that, overseas visitor spend grew by 9 per cent last year to €6.9 billion.
The CSO data says that, since the start of the year, visitor numbers are down in all those major markets with the exception of Canada and, possibly, the Netherlands. The CSO data groups the Netherlands with other Benelux countries down.
Even last month, in the middle of the summer holiday season worldwide, visitor numbers to Ireland were higher only from North America, and possibly the Netherlands, according to the CSO data.
In better news for the State, the Tourism Ireland survey found that more than a third of overseas consumers said they were reconsidering some destinations due to extreme weather, as temperatures topped 40 degrees in many traditional holiday destinations in southern Europe.
It found that Ireland ranked “competitively” among norther European destinations being considered by overseas visitors looking for “coolcations”, a term coined by Condé Nast Traveler in 2023.
For those considering Ireland, the chief attractions for visitors were the landscape, culture, key attractions and curiosity. More generally, potential holidaymakers say the main reasons for choosing one destination over another are exploration and the ability to disconnect.
Also ranking highly with potential visitors is the ability to travel here, with visitors from Britain being most positive on the ease of getting here, followed by those in the United States. However, fewer than half of respondents in Germany and the Netherlands, thought getting to Ireland was easy.
There are other issues facing the tourism industry. While 65 per cent of potential international visitors said holidays abroad were worth spending money on, 41 per cent say the cost of living will limit how often they travel. One in four respondents said they were holding off on booking any foreign travel due to economic uncertainty.
Visitors were most likely to be prompted in choice of destination by recommendations from people who had previously visited, with online search, TV and film and social media also playing a role.
Travel planning is not immune from the spread of generative artificial intelligence (AI), with twice as many people citing its regular use over the past six months, albeit from a low starting point of 4.5 per cent.
“Tourism Ireland will make use of the latest insights, as we roll out marketing for the rest of this year to win travel through relevant publicity, advertising, digital, social and AI channels,” Ms Mansergh said.
