Is the worst behind us in Ireland ?

The Irish economy depends largely on our Tourist Industry and the outlook for this present season a few months ago was more than gloomy. There is no doubt that the numbers are down this year, and well down at that. The Recession has been the major influence on this, and also the value of the Dollar versus the Euro. I have been more fortunate than many other tour operators and chauffeur companies and there are various reasons for this. Number one, i am a sole operator and, eventhough i always have back-up in the event of an emergency, i do not have large numbers of staff on my payroll. I do not have a fleet of vehicles to pay for and maintain. I have been in the business long enough to have made a name for myself and i have many friends in the USA who always recommend me to their friends when asked about their holiday with me. These friends are also always willing to talk to people i refer to them for information regarding me and how i operate and that is a wonderful help to me. I am recommended on Trip Advisor and many people use this great web-site for information on their holidays. You can find me on the Ireland West Tourism site. Maybe i have a head-start on many competitors as a result of my record to date. To cut a long story short...my year to date has been surprisingly good and i know that i am one of the more fortunate ones, thank God.
All of a sudden i am feeling more optimistic and i think that i am not alone in feeling that way. The markets are improving slowly but surely ...and over a sustained period at last. Nothing dramatic has happened there yet but the trend at last is upwards. Confidence is returning and people are beginning to relax a little ....and beginning to feel that they can spend a little again in safety. I have noticed an increase in enquiries again and that is most reassuring. I know that the months ahead are going to offer great value to holidaymakers traveling to Ireland and i intend to be a part of that. We have been misled by a feeling of never-ending prosperity in this country through the years of the Celtic Tiger and we were due a good kick in the behind. We got that ...and a bigger one than most countries, and we deserved it all. We spent and borrowed and spent again like we could print the stuff ourselves. We did not worry about prices and we were not getting or giving value for money. People purchased everything recklessly without paying any attention to the prices they were paying, and they were taken advantage of. Prices on everything here were sky high and visitors were shocked at the cost of just about everything in Ireland. We just kept on spending and seeking better wage increases. There were people buying petrol (gas) in filling stations that were charging way more than a filling station just down the road offering it a much better price. They never even noticed. Supermarkets were ripping us off while their branches in Great Britain were 50% lower in price. They blamed it all on our high wages and transport costs. Who do they think they were kidding. Aldi and Lidl came in from mainland Europe and started to give us value and now they are really socking it to them... and it is about time too. Tesco sold fuel at reduced prices and this brought the prices down in those areas where Tesco had fuel outlets. Of course all of these overchargers are telling us how wonderful they are as they reduce their prices in an effort to win back custom. They still have to pay the wages and transport costs....how come they can do it now when they could not do it twelve months ago? These were not the only areas we were being ripped off as pubs and restaurants and professionals all made hay while the sun shone. I am not going to go into them all as i would be here all night. Do all these opportunists think that we are stupid? Well maybe they are right in thinking that because we were....but i think we have learned a hard lesson. Now we have to shop around because the money is not as plentiful. We are looking for value, and about time. I will not pay above the odds for anything anymore and i am getting better value.
Barack Obama has indicated that he thinks that the recession is easing in the USA and i think that it is easing elsewhere also. Lets hope that it continues and lets not be too pessimistic about things and start talking positively instead of being prophets of doom and gloom.
I am looking forward to a good ending to my season and a Winter ahead when the enquiries for next season will be coming in steadily as people plan for a well earned holiday in Ireland next year. We have seen it all before and we survived. Now we are maybe looking at the fog lifting and the green fields of Ireland coming into view once again from far away. Maybe you will come and see them for yourself one of these days. Now is a good time.
Talk to you soon.
Comments more than welcome.