All sorts of interesting little bits came out in interviews on the radio and reports in the newspapers on Ireland as seen from the Frankfurt Book Fair. One line again and again: the fact that an interest in Ireland was first evoked for many Germans by a book written by Heinrich Boll, one of the major novelists of the post war years. Boll had taken a house in Achill and the Irish Diary he wrote is, apparently, still alive in Germany. And, of course, working for understanding between the two countries and, no doubt, working for the tourist industry.
But then you wonder. The sort of, person who might be sparked into visiting Achill and the West in general might not be one of the A B category customers which, it appears from a tourism forum held earlier this week, is preferred. There is a great future for employment in this industry in our country, but it seems that we could do with more of these top people. Backpackers are welcome, of course, and in ten years the back packers of today might have developed into the high spending As and Bs. Unfortunately, if that is the right word, the lower category tourist (the C class) is jumping, and the big spenders are decreasing.
This particular report suggests that Ireland should expand its efforts into new, and apparently under explored markets and, oddly, tells us that Italy, Spain and Scandinavia are most promising. Have we not all come across busfulls of Italians? No? The chairman of the organisation which ran the conference (Irish Tourist Industry Federation), Eamonn McKeon, Chief Executive of the Great Southern Hotels saw potential in the Japanese market: but it would cost £5 million a year to run a campaign.
Back to Frankfurt and the late Heinrich Boll. Just as the Frankfurt fair was opening, a huge advertisement in a German paper tells us of a new Boll like draw. It is even called My Irish Diary, and is written by Ralph Giordano, who not so long ago, did a travel book on the lost region of East Prussia. The blurb tells us of the Ireland we are to meet in this volume Ireland, where melancholy and excess are married. It is a poetic hymn of praise to a beautiful and violent slang, an idyllic and torn island. Giordano, say the publishers, has created a masterpiece of travel literature. The cover shows rocks or cliffs and foaming sea. Erin the tear and the smile again? We'll see.