TOURISM OPPORTUNITY - Driving Economic Renewal

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) and the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) recently launched a turnaround plan for the sector called Tourism Opportunity- Driving Economic Renewal. In a welcome sign that the sector's interests are wider than itself, the plan is supported by the Irish Farmer's Association, Chambers Ireland and IBEC. The accompanying video on Irish tourism facts is really superb and I would urge all to take a look at it.

While the plan has many positive attributes focussing on the short-term, I think the most notable feature is the lack of ambition for the decade ahead. For example:

• World tourist arrivals are set to almost double (880 million to 1.5 billion) between 2009 and 2020. This represents a huge opportunity for employment creation, economic growth and increased exchequer revenues
• While 83,666 jobs were lost in the sector between 2007 and 2009, the plan seeks to create just over 20,000 jobs in the next five years. A return to 2007 levels would create almost 100,000 jobs and €2 billion in foreign revenue 
• Other countries are ahead of us. New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key, is also the country's Tourism Minister. David Cameron wants the UK to be in the Top Five destinations in the world. President Obama signed the Travel Promotion Act into law last year which provided for the settng up of a new national tourism board to promote international travel to the U.S. Last month,the Portuguese Tourism Confederation invited former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to deliver the keynote address at its conference on city-based tourism

The future development of the hospitality and tourism sector is largely within our own hands. The costly infrastructure required to make this happen is already in place and the international community is very positively disposed towards Ireland. We ought to plan for the future now.  Just follow the farmers and replicate the Food Harvest 2020 report.