THE Chancellor of the University of Limerick has said that the only way Shannon will thrive is to give the airport back to the people of Shannon. And he told a conference that Irish tourism interests will have to retrain their staff to give visitors the thousand welcomes rather than the brush-off. Peter Malone, who is currently also chairman of the National Roads Authority, told the annual Clare Tourist Council Conference in Ennistymon that the airport, once the “hub of all tourism in Ireland is now in the doldrums”.
Speaking to the Limerick Post in the wake of the conference, he said that he believes an independent Shannon can survive.
“I’m convinced the airport can do it if we give it back to the people of Shannon with no noose around its neck.
“With the right board of people from Shannon in place it can succeed but it takes people with vision and feeling. When I was here in the mid-60’s at the Hotel School, I saw Brendan O’Regan in action. He never said ‘no’, he fought the system, he won for Shannon what rightfully was theirs”.
Speaking on ways of getting tourists to come here, he said that tourism concerns and the service industry “must place emphasis on training staff. The friendly Irish are gone. Go into any hotel, restaurant, bar, shop, post office, rail station, golf course, etc. etc. and we are not welcomed with the friendliness that we became famous for.
We have lost it and unless we stop the rot soon and improve training and standards in our country, it will not return”.
Another major boost to tourism would be to give Chinese people full Visas so they can come here without having to go through Britain, the UL Chancellor concluded.
