The news that tourism revenue has broken the £2 billion barrier for the first time is clearly welcome. Ten years ago revenue was £731 million. Since then growth has been strong and sustained. The Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, says growth will continue in 1998. Tourism created 6,000 new jobs in 1997 and the industry now supports 115,000 people in full-time employment.
Impressive as these figures are, tourism is of its nature a volatile business. It is highly susceptible to conditions over which its managers have no control. Airlines ruefully recall the devastating impact of the Gulf War. Currency movements can have a devastating effect, for good or ill. People on this island scarcely need reminding of the days when shopping sprees in Northern Ireland were a routine outing for people in the Republic. Today the strength of sterling propels the traffic in the other direction.
German reunification may seem highly remote from a cruise on the Shannon or Lough Erne. Yet the link between the two became evident to Irish cruise companies when they experienced a sharp decline in revenues from their single most important market. Germans simply could not afford what is an expensive, if highly enjoyable, product. Mainland Europe managed only a 3 per cent growth and the outlook for 1998 is not especially promising. The outstanding performance came from the British market in 1997. The strength of sterling and historically low air and car ferry fares helped to bring an astonishing 2.3 million visitors from Britain. The great majority of these are of course welcome, but some are not. The British media have noticed the phenemenon of the stag and hen parties that descend mainly on Dublin. The quality of the Irish welcome is the most precious asset Irish tourism possesses. Loutish behaviour in central Dublin is the antithesis of what Ireland of the Welcomes is supposed to be about.
It should be said that the local accommodation owners and publicans who seek to profit from their guests' over-indulgence bear a heavy responsibility for the unfavourable media commentary about Dublin surfacing across the Irish Sea. The bodies who represent these sectors should reflect more carefully on the damage that some members are inflicting on our tourism image. Dr McDaid has noted that tourism growth has not been shared equally. Dublin and the east coast have prospered more than the rest of the country. This is certainly true, but it is important to understand why. Dublin has a natural advantage in that it is a capital city with a range of internationally known attractions. Dr McDaid's desire to spread the fruits of our success in tourism more widely is admirable but it would be a grave policy mistake to think that a government can influence tourists to go to Donegal if in fact they want to go to Dublin. And all of our visitors cannot be expected to share the Government's interest in balanced regional development.