I take your point Joe, marketing has to be looked at. Though a drop of 40,000 in three months is hardly due to their not being enough sailing,4×4 driving or deer hunting available as these are surely minority activities. Simple reason is,Britain is in a recession like us, but unlike us its cheaper for them to holiday in their own country. Whereas we charge an arm and a leg for a pint and some pub grub.

How many people go deer hunting on their holidays? It’s new one to me.

Just an example of things to do Brain

Itchy I appreciate it’s an example however anyone who wants a holiday consisting of deer hunting, kayaking or off roading are unlikely to pick any capital city in the world.

There was a report “written” by 2 consultants about attracting tourists to Dublin, their bone lazy contention was that we should have more Union Jacks flying outside of businesses.

Quiet Ironic that when the IRA were sending British soldiers home in body bags in the 90′s, that their were more British tourists coming here at that stage. Maybe they were thrill seeking tourists.

The fact that Britain is half broke, surviving on printing money, and that we are an expensive destination compared to places like Croatia, Spain, Greece are just immaterial.

yep its to expensive here compared to the UK

€8 for a cappachino in Venice.

Ah but Venice has rivers for streets.

Comparing a kip like temple bar to Venice is really funny…. Best comment yet

Venice stinks.

Totally agree Carl.

It’s call jd weatherspoons ,great food at a cheap price .:)

That is not the case with my friends in London, i took many of them over to Dublin over the years, they love the place.

Well said but with due respect Dublin is a village compared to London

I wouldn’t say a village compared, Cork maybe but it is not all about size is it. Dublin is a huge city for a small country and population

I think that Dublin is actually quite good value for a destination….I think food is reasonable, not as much as in Germany or Spain but on a par or better than some UK cities and places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Transport costs relatively ok – still a bit of work needed on the City to Airport services in terms of ease of use and connectivity. Hotels are better value now. Budget accom is quite a good standard. Many attractions are free or low cost…was being charged £14 into an exhibition in London recently.

What is missing is quality environment and serious investment in new attractions and clusters of things to do. The focus needs to be on extending current stays (say from 2 nights to 3) and encouraging people to think that they just didnt see the half of Dublin that last time they were here and they simply must get back. For that you need:

Quality streetscapes and a pleasant street climate (ie non threatening, attractive, hassle-free)
Attractions
Walking routes and character areas
Good websites that give you a great idea of what you can do in Dublin…regardless of your tastes
A bit of cutting edge design and trendiness
A bit of class and attention to how we present important sites and buildings.

That and tooth pick on O’Connell street…. Sure why wouldnt they come here. LOL… Have to be honest, the only reason I’d go into Dublin city was if my life depended on it. The rest of the country is a utopia compared to it.

I was in Dublin last week, i got a 4 star hotel in central Dublin for €69 a night with breakfast in London a similar hotel you would pay £140 minimum, i had a 3 course meal in a lovely restaurant for €19 with a glass of wine. And public transport in the city is alot cheaper thatn in London. All round i think you get value for money, When i first visited Dublin in 2002 i found it really expensive. Today it is one of the cheapest capital cities to visit.

Mr. Larson: I don’t know who you are or where you’re from, but your reply indicates a distinct lack of familiarity with the cost of visiting Ireland as a whole – leaving you with a singular rhetorical impediment – one of which I will refrain from taking any further advantage.

Mr Jackson im from London and i visit Dublin many times, i also visit many other cities around europe and the states, i find Dublin to be one of the cheapest capitals i visited, in my opinion.

To be fair, Dublin is ridiculously cheap for hotels now, and most restaurants do good deals too. The pubs are probably the main sticking point now.

Dublin is the cheapest capital city destination in Europe. Google the figures for yourself.

@Mark Not having a go or anything but you have some buzz on you about how great Ireland is and how brilliant the Irish are. Dublin is a very expensive city for its size. You may have gotten a good deal on a hotel but in general that is not the case. I think perhaps you have a slight case of rose coloured glasses… or indeed “grass is always greener”

What has expense go to do with size? I travel to Dublin at least once a month for business and i find it cheaper today than it has ever been. So much choice in that city. Dublin is one of the best value city breaks in Europe for sure.

You get what you pay for. Turkey is a kip.

Yes but a Kip with better weather…… Guess which kip wins out

What you say sounds like most UK cities.

I was sure that the Tourism numbers were going to increase from Britain after the Queens visit last year. I am sure i recollect FFg/Labour/FF all telling us that this was a sure thing…. Guys don’t have a clue, do they!

A friend of mine from Manchester was in dublin recently enough and couldn’t believe the amount of junkies on the streets…Not a dig at dublin.

Jesus you should go to England for a week then, there are cities and towns that could be used in films about Albania in the 80′s.

Fagan i spent 2 good years there

I found Cork full of junkies, maybe because it is a very small city they stood out more. When im in Dublin i spend most of my time in the southside of the city. It is beautiful. Lovely properties. I have read that Dublin city council wants to relocate all the clinics out of the centre of the city, it will be good for the city. They did the same in London a few years back and it cleaned the area up alot especially around Kings X.

@ Cal1: I know right, and the floods don’t forget the floods; the government just sat back while it rained for days. Well according to the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation; Tourism was up in 2011 which they believe was due to high profile visits last year. This MAY be a return to more normal levels for this country.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tourism-up-for-2011-after-obama-and-queen-visits-2975559.html

That is what the Indo and the Government said… like coe on… The journal ran this story to say that in the last 12 months, the tourism numbers are down… Who are you going to believe, Not one red cent and the Tabloids like the Indo, or the Journal.ie and the Irish tourism board?

Mark, what part of Cork did you go to to find it “full of junkies”? I’m in Cork on a regular basis all hours of the day and night and would find it hard to suss them out. You’d swear there was a guy on each corner with a needle hanging out of his arm. Over exaggerating just a tad perhaps?

Cork full of junkies? Not denying a drug problem exists like most towns and cities but what you describe is definitely not my experience.

Mabe you got blinkers on, i saw a french tourist getting kicked to the ground on one of the bridges in cork city, both junkies pulled the camera off her neck. I saw many junkies aroun the city, i saw so many fights in that city to mainly amongst locals. They do like to fight.

There is more to Ireland than just “dirty streets full of thugs, drugs and violence” which I assume you are associating, for the most part, with Dublin. Dublin is only one, admittedly large, attraction in a country full of attraction.

There is so much more to Ireland than just Dublin,

Send the tourists down to us in Limerick city we will show them how to have a good crack…..

Gotta agree with Mark re: Cork. They’re on my doorstep:((

You are so right.

Many pubs in Dublin have a pint for €3.50, you probably got your hotel room for €39-€49 a night, they have to make money somehow.

If you ever come here again hit me up and I’ll take you pubs where the prices better reflect the economic circumstances rather than that dump temple bar

Point taken mark and I’d love to take you up on your offer Marc.

Spot on there Mark.

The old colonial complex of inferiority is one of the biggest sights that a tourist can see here.

They lied, its what they always do.

Re-read the article. “The larger decline in visits from Great Britain could be explained in part by Queen Elizabeth II’s visit last year as the number travelling to Ireland around that time increased dramatically. This year’s figure is still greater than what was seen in 2010.”

Niall, the headline reads “Fewer people from Great Britain visiting Ireland”. I’ve had a brief look over the figures and the Tourism Ireland website and unless I’m mistaken, nowhere does anybody make any reference to the Queens visit. I am assuming the Sinead O’Carroll inserted that piece and if that is the case I was wondering how she arrived at that presumption and what evidence there is to back it up. How do we know that the extra 42,000 UK visitors didn’t come over for St Patrick’s Day or Easter? Is it plausible that 42,000 people travelled to Ireland just to see the Queen? Were there other events during those 3 months that might have brought in the extra visitors such as concerts, sporting events or conferences.

Basically what I am saying is that to assert that the extra tourist numbers came here because of the Royal visit is without foundation. Given that Kenny, Varadker and the rest of their curtseying cronies insisted that the €20 million visit would provide a “massive” boost for tourism a 5.7% drop is exactly that, a drop.

well said

You are talking nonsense Mel. Anybody working in the area can tell you that Tourism Ireland do a fantastic job promoting Ireland.

bogger

Conor. Time to go back to your lair.

Conor, may i constructively point out that there will be more foreign tourists travelling around Ireland as a direct result of the Irish Open being played in the North this year than typically with he Irish Open. If you read any of the golfing web-sites, the North is getting as lot of positive attention from around teh world due to our guys having won so many Majors in the last 15 months. The North may be hosting the British Open next year brining 30,000 foreign visitors to Ireland. If you do not see this as a major positive for the whole Island, that is your view. The rest of the Island is extremely happy about it all.

@cal1 Mooney, the majority of golf tourists visiting the Irish Open in the UK part of the Island will spend 1 week on the island and then depart. nThat week is critical to the spin off spend from these tourists to the local economy where the venue is located. nA Percentage of golf visitors may choose to stay and do your anticipated tour of the Island. However, the main event is outside our jurisdiction and the IRISH open benefits the BRITISH economy and exchequer enormously.nThe Southern economy will benefit from the crumbs and left overs.nI doubt numbers of visitors to the Irish Open would drop if the venue was somewhere down South. The benefit to our economy of having the venue down south would be enormous. nFair enough to stage the British Open in the north. Any chance they’d stage it down south?n

Conor, if the North does a good job hosting it next year, who knows, the British may actually allow the 26 counties host part of it the following year. I don’t know if you know this, The British Open is hosted over 2 courses, not just one course. Maybe, they would be ‘open’ excuse the pun to allowing the South to host part of it also. What we don’t need are people trying to draw imaginary boundaries where none exist. There are many people who will visit the Open this year from the US, and its incredulous to believe they will spend their entire holiday around one town, or even one county on the Island. Think about it! And next year, up to 30,000 foreign visitors coming over.
We should be thanking and praising the Island of Ireland Major winners who have made the Irish open a relevant tournament again. There are 4 major winners taking part in the irish open this year. We have never had so many Major winners take part before. Get behind them, and acknowledge their contribution for putting the Island forward in a good light, instead of sniping about where the tournament is taking place this year.

Be a good lad Conor and get back in your box.

Yeah right, it’s going to be like the fall of Saigon any day now.

Tyrion, I’m talking about perceptions. (great second season, btw)