Killarney the engine of growth for Kerry tourism - report
Killarney is the main engine of growth when it comes to tourism in Kerry, according to a new report.
“Killarney is the driver, the engine of growth,” Kerry County tourism officer John Griffin told Kerry County Council.
Research by the state tourism agencies, Failte and Tourism Ireland, as well as by the council itself at heritage sites in Kerry, was outlined. The American market followed by the German accounted for most overseas visitors to Kerry.
Kerry visitor numbers were up 52% between 2013 and 2018 to over 2.35 million, “a phenomenal increase”, the tourism officer said.
Some 26.5% of the 1.1m domestic visitors to the countyy in 2018 were from County Cork, followed by Co Dublin at just over 18%.
Challenges facing the Killarney and Kerry market included the concentration of arrivals into Dublin and with a second runway that would increase even further, Mr Griffin said.
But the overall turn against air travel - “flight shame” - would also be a factor.
Brexit had led to a dip in confidence among Germans and Spaniards, but that confidence was returning, he said.
However the pattern of continued growth had changed in 2019, the hotelier and Killarney councillor Niall O’Callaghan said.
“This year was a very trying year. It was way down for businesses,” Cllr O’Callaghan said. Vat increase had added to the difficulty.
He also said there was a need to smarten up in marketing with state of the art apps, not brochures.
“That’s where we’re at. Phones and apps. We don’t want to be behind, we want to be in front,” said Cllr O’Callaghan who relied on social media and live video rather than door-to-door for his canvass in May.
Mr Griffin also said that China was an emerging market that needed to be tapped into.
