Tourism in a major industry worldwide that often goes undiscussed in terms of its impacts on a nation. In Ireland, tourism is undeniably a large industry – I was even surprised to learn how popular Irish is a tourist destination. When looking at the data on the Irish’s governments website, you can see that tourism generated over 9 billion euros in revenue and the country was able to attract a number of tourists greater than double the size of their population while generating over 300,000 jobs for the Irish workers. With numbers this significant, tourism is bound to have a major impact on Irish business and society.
When looking at the business side, tourism creates the jobs and revenue mentioned above. As Meade said today, we were there to stimulate the “tourist economy.” Many businesses, like tour companies, lodging, and gift/souvenir shops, are heavily reliant on the influx of cash that most tourists bring into an area. It is my opinion, that tourists may be more willing or able to spend money than some locals because they have the wealth to afford the travel experience and the willingness to spend money to create long lasting memories. The only downside to tourism for businesses that I can think of is that the jobs are usually pretty seasonal, but since Ireland has a decently stable climate, I doubt that they are impacted by this issue as heavily as a place like Costa Rica would be.
Tourism in general has positive effects on businesses but it may have some more negative effects on Irish society. Although tourists come to experience the Irish culture and scenery, they may end up imposing their own cultures on the locals. This may weaken the culture in some other places, but Irish culture seems strong enough to withstand this pressure without being damaged. On top of this, tourism allows the locals of Ireland to meet people who are very different from them and broaden their horizons. This could only have positive impacts on Irish society as a whole. Secondly, tourism drives up the prices of nearly everything for locals. This can be seen daily as when you go to a place in the Temple Bar area that is very touristy everything seems to be more expensive. Additionally, this drives up the price of housing significantly in tourist cities. This is a problem that is significantly impacting Hawaii today, and Dr. Darren mentioned that houses near the dockland that are basically studio apartments have jumped in value to around one million euros. This may be a cause of the high degree or homelessness in Ireland.
If I was in charge of a sales pitch to attract tourists to Ireland, I would have a two headed approach. Because the social and physical settings in an urban place like Dublin is so different than that of a rural town like where the sheep farm was, I feel they must be marketed differently and directed at different target audiences. To attract people to Dublin, I would think you would want to target a younger audience and highlight how the city is growing and the exciting activities and locations the city has to offer. There should be more of a focus on the social aspect of Dublin as well highlighting the beautiful tourist sites like Christ Church that the city has to offer. On the other hand, the marketing for the more rural areas should be heavily focused on the natural beauty that Ireland has to offer. By simply making people aware of the sites like Kilkenny Castle, The Cliffs of Mohor, and the lakes in the southeast of the country, you will organically attract nature loving tourists. With this being said, you should also make people aware how easy it is to travel across the country for a day trip to be able to see all the sites scattered throughout the country they may be interested in.
