Madam, - So, tourism is in decline outside of Dublin. Is this a surprise when it is near impossible to travel outside of the capital without expensively renting a car?
Not a single airport in the State has a rail link. Kerry airport, to which six plane-loads of visitors arrive daily, has one bus per day. Knock is 30km from the nearest rail station, 10km from the nearest intercity bus stop - a crooked pole on the street in Charlestown.
Galway airport has no public transport of any kind; its official website recommends calling a taxi.
"Bed nights fell 22 per cent in the west"? It'll take a more substantial change to get tourists to these beds than renaming Bord Fáilte as Fáilte Ireland. - Yours, etc,
MARK SUGRUE, Egham, Surrey, England.
Madam, - Your front-page report of August 10th about the Government overhaul of tourism promotion due to the industry's decline in the regions would be amusing if the issue were not so serious.
May I gently suggest that the real problems for tourism in this country, and not only beyond Dublin, are the perennial ones graphically recited again in your excellent "August Days" features? These are, in no particular order, the excessive price of food and other essentials; rampant litter; lamentable road signage; illegal traveller encampments; and a generally unkempt natural and built environment.
Last week I visited the very impressive new Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise for the first time. It is exactly the kind of place the tourist industry needs. But my enthusiasm was deflated when I was charged €5 for a modest pot of tea for two. It would have been good value at €2, overpriced at €3, but at €5 it was a total rip-off.
No Government plan or tinkering with agencies will overcome these basic value-for-money issues. While some tourism practitioners strive to give good value, too many have yet to grasp this simple message. - Yours, etc,
STEPHEN O'BYRNES, Pembroke Place, Dublin 2.