Fáilte 360°: what visitors really like

The survey shows that 50% of tourists answered ‘pub’ when asked where did they eat when in Dublin according to Bord Fáilte’s Holidaymaker Study 2012, published recently.

Fáilte Ireland has published its most comprehensive examination of what holidaymakers really think of Ireland and its regional destinations in the Fáilte 360: Holidaymaker Survey 2012.

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The Fáilte 360 represents the views of nearly 10,000 overseas and domestic holidaymakers who visited 11 destinations last year and it provides an in-depth insight into what they experienced.
The surveys look at:
·         Why a certain destination was chosen
·         How they researched their trip and sourced their information
·         Where they stayed
·         Where they chose to eat and
·         What attractions they visited.

The research also asked visitors about the likelihood of them recommending Ireland as a holiday destination and – encouragingly – most would recommend Ireland for a holiday. Over six in 10 would highly recommend Ireland to their friends and family.   

Fáilte Ireland’s Chief Executive Shaun Quinn stressed the importance of research like this for developing Ireland’s tourism sector.

“If we want to continue to attract more overseas visitors to Ireland, we need to know more about what they think, what they like and what they want,” he stated, “Tourism is in a good place compared to five years ago, but we can’t become complacent. In order to draw more visitors to our shores we need to ensure we’re providing the right type of holiday experiences – particularly for our overseas markets. In that respect, research like this is a valuable help to all of us in the sector as we continue to develop and improve Ireland’s tourism offering.”

The survey shows that pubs in Dublin emerged as the top choice for tourists when eating out with 50% of tourists answering ‘pub’ when asked where did they eat when in Dublin.  At 37% restaurants came a distant second choice while hotels scored just 31% and cafés only 14%.

Pubs also featured as the most frequent choice of eating place in West Clare with 31% opting to eat there followed by hotels at 25% and restaurants at 15%.

At 41%, pubs in the Dingle Peninsula came second only to restaurants on 42% and above hotels on 23%.
Elsewhere in the country, on ‘Dublin’s Doorstep’ (Wicklow, Kildare, Louth and Meath), pubs featured less prominently for tourists considering where to eat with only 12% citing ‘pub’.‘Hotel’ at 36% and ‘restaurant’ at 34% predominated in this part of the country.

In the Donegal/Sligo region, ‘pub’ figured for 21% ‘though still well below ‘hotel’ at 48%, ‘restaurant’ at 44%, ‘self-catring’ at 25% and even behind ‘café’ at 24%.

Pubs fared also less favourably in the ‘Shannon Corridor’ scoring only 26%, below restaurants at 36% and hotels at 32%.
In the Ring of Kerry, restaurants took the top choice spot with 38% while hotels came second with 36%. Pubs, at 24%, came third above cafés on 22%.

In West Cork pubs only featured third with 22% (just above self-catering on 21% and cafés on 20%) below restaurants on 41% and hotels on 24%.

The South East provided similar tourist results with hotels taking the top choice at 37% while restaurants came second at 32% and pubs 28%.

Pubs in the Galway/Mayo region came out worst in the survey with only 16% of tourists making pubs their choice of eating establishment. Above the pubs were hotels on 33%, B&Bs on 22%, restaurants on 21% and cafés & self-catering on 18%.

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