During a Seanad debate on the Irish Tourism Industry, I said: I welcome the Minister of State. I have been in his part of the world a lot recently and it is impressive. I was very impressed by the figures he outlined to the House, particularly the figure of 200,000 jobs dependent on the tourism industry...

If the level of expenditure is €4 billion, it suggests 11% of the people are employed in the industry. I will not go through the figures he mentioned but I was pleased to hear about the discounted rail travel aspect.

I was chairman of the St. Patrick’s festival committee for a number of years. I note that Tourism Ireland is to invest €26 million in the first half of the year. A person from Japan said to me that if they had a brand like St. Patrick’s Day, they would use it effectively. The person concerned was criticising the way in which we had used it. I agree with Senator Mooney in what he said about using the St. Patrick’s Day festivities for various purposes.

I grew up in the hotel business or, better still, the holiday camp business. My father ran Red Island Holiday Camp in Sherries, County Dublin, which he built just after the end of the Second World War. It had 250 bedrooms and catered for 500 guests. There was one important message I learned from that business. The camp was run by my father on the basis that practically all of the guests would come from the north of England from places such as Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham who would travel by boat or aeroplane and pay on the day of arrival. Everything was included in holiday price. It was a very interesting way to do business. My father’s view was that one should not bring any spare money. I call it the Boomerang principle whereby everything one does is aimed at getting the customer to come back. The objective was not to get as much money as possible from the customer because if one sought to do this, one would be in breach of the contract made with the customer whereby travel, accommodation, food and entertainment was included. In later years I have been on holiday with our children to Club Med where the same principle applies - everything is included, including wine. One does not spend money on anything other than spirits. The reason I mention this is that I believe the answer is in our own hands. It is up to hoteliers and everybody involved in the tourism business to recognise that if we succeed, it will be because people will come and enjoy their visit and want to come back again. That lies in our own hands and we can do it in so many ways.

I was speaking the other day to a person who had tried to book into Kelly’s Hotel in Rosslare but it was booked out, even at this time of year. The hotel has a history of doing things well and I am sure there are others like it. It caters for families, those interested in good food and golfers and appears to do everything well. I take it as an example. When I visited another part of Ireland, I could not get over the bad service offered. In one hotel, as I was checking in, a person asked the receptionist, “Is that a VIP?” She replied, “No, it is not.” In other words, I would not receive the level of attention that would be given. I was very disappointed. I walked into another establishment and the owner and an assistant were talking to each other. There were a number of tourists present. As we walked between them, they never even noticed us. There was no eye contact and no link. How could they hope to get people to come back?

Some years ago I spoke at a conference in America. After my wife and I had pulled up at the hotel in southern California, the commissioner opened the door and said: “Mr. Quinn, you are very welcome.” I was very impressed. As we chatted, he asked if I had been to the hotel before and I replied that I had not. He said he would look after my bags and told me to proceed to the reception desk. He asked if I had come a long way. I said I had come from Ireland and he asked how long it had taken me to get there. I said it had taken ten or 12 hours. As I approached the reception desk, the receptionist looked up and asked: “How are you, Mr. Quinn? You are very welcome. You must be exhausted. You have come all the way from Dublin which is about ten or 12 hours away.” I was so impressed that I went down the following day to watch as the next guests arrived. As the taxi pulled up, the boot opened, the doorman ran behind, saw the name on the case and asked: “How are you, Mr. Buckley? You are very welcome. You have been with us before.” He said he had been there the previous year and had played a great round of golf, better than he had had ever played before but which he would beat this time. The doorman said, “Well, Mr. Buckley, you know the way; head over to the reception desk.” Mr. Buckley headed over and received the same welcome I had received. The receptionist said: “How are you Mr. Buckley? You are welcome back. You are the guy who shot 72 last year.” He was very pleased. I was watching the doorman who had a microphone in the lapel of his jacket and was whispering into it. I mention this because they went to some pains to make sure they got it right. These are the things we can do.

I have another story about a hotel in America at which we arrived a number of years ago. I was very impressed when the man who was clipping the hedge said, “Hi, you are very welcome.” We went to our room and my wife and I decided to eat in the hotel that night. I said the Americans were great, they called a person by name. We have always had a difficulty in getting people to do this. I telephoned the restaurant to book a table. I was asked, “How are you, Mr. Quinn? You are very welcome.” The person concerned could see on the telephone who was ringing and said, “This is Elaine; what can I do for you?” We booked a table for two at 7.30 p.m. in the non-smoking section and I thanked her. She then asked where I was from. I told her I was from Ireland. She said she knew this and that she was from Ratoath. There were four young Irish people working there. I remember going into one of the little boutiques in the hotel. The assistant was bending down behind the counter and did not see us come in. When he saw us, he suddenly looked up and said he was very sorry, that he had not greeted us. I spoke to the four Irish youngsters of 19 and 20 years of age who had been jobs in the hotel. They told me they had received 45 minutes training. They were told to always call customers by name, always introduce themselves and never to allow a customer to come into one’s shop without greeting them. These are the things they were doing in that hotel in America because they were the right things to do. The reason I tell these stories is that I believe they play a huge part. In other words, let us not look to the Government, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland to do everything. There are some things we can do ourselves.

Last year Senator Mary White complained that there were very strict restrictions in place for those over 70 years of age in car rental. I have rented cars in the United States and not experienced this. The conference I mentioned on the Order of Business that I attended yesterday was entitled, Turning Silver into Gold. It was about people with silver hair and business opportunities. One of the participants said that retired did not really want stuff - that was the word used - that they did not want more things, that what they wanted were experiences. This is the opportunity for us in Ireland to do things. We could do much in eco-tourism, protecting the environment and so on.

Let me speak about something the Government can do. Strict visa requirements for visitors from certain countries are causing major problems for the tourism industry. Mr. Gerry Mullins, chief executive of the Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland, has said that while the conditions are not new, things have changed and that newly wealthy visitors from China, India and Russia, also mentioned by Senator Mooney, are being refused entry because of a strange and stupid system. The documentation needed by a person from China applying for an Irish holiday visa includes bank statements for six months and a letter from their host in Ireland stating he or she will support the person concerned during the visit. We are supposed to welcome them. I have visited the three countries mentioned in recent years and there is a degree of wealth in them. The people concerned want new experiences and are happy to come here. Chinese tourists are very well off and travelling in their millions. This is a sector in which there will be a major increase. Why is the Government continuing with outdated visa restrictions? In a stroke, by relaxing the conditions, we could create thousands of jobs. There was story in The Irish Times about an agent in Indonesia who had said he could sell 1,000 coach tours to Ireland this year with 40 people on each if Ireland was not so difficult to get into. We need change. This is an issue about which we could do something.

Dublin will be City of Science in 2012. What a smashing opportunity this will present. The opportunities are huge and we can do a great deal. It was a great victory for Dublin which was in competition with a number of other cities.

Senator Mooney and possibly Senator Coghlan mentioned golfing holidays. Scotland is having a bigger impact than us on golfers. I accept that sterling gives it an advantage but the golf clubs with which I am familiar are not receiving anything similar to the number of visitors and green fees they did previously. Scotland is doing a huge amount of business and we could do a great deal more. Let us ensure we take the necessary steps. The steps that are being taken are in the right direction but we could do far more.

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