Figures overall are up on last year
TOURISM figures for the summer season are looking good in Limerick and the region, with the hospitality sector reporting a return of the European market and US visitors, the Limerick Post has learned.
But one of the potentially most lucrative markets, the UK, is still evading the tourism providers, it has been stated.
As the season draws to a close. the Limerick Post asked tourism concerns what their experience of the year had been.
According to the Chairman of the Mid West branch of the Hoteliers Federation, Michael Vaughan, the “market seems to have stabilised rather than made a strong recovery but that is still good news. Event and business visitors have played a big role this year. Notre Dame versus Navy gave a huge boost to visitor numbers. We’re seeing strong business and leisure events providing growth in Limerick,” he said.
But the hotelier added that the city is not making a recovery at the same pace as Galway, Cork or Dublin.
“The biggest sector lagging is the UK market, which is still about 35 per cent down. The talk now is on the need for a new product, a need to put packages together and get into the UK and market those. We need to work on getting that market”.
And elsewhere in the region, hospitality providers are seeing a return of European holiday makers.
A spokesperson for the Killaloe/Ballina Business Association said that the “European market has come back this year, and we are seeing a lot of German people visiting. There’s been some recovery too in the US market. We have been working with a travel agent in Limerick to bring the German market in and it has paid off”.
