Speech for Martin Cullen, T.D.,
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism
at the official re-opening of Treacy's Hotel,
Templeshannon, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford
Thursday 4 December, 2008 at 6pm
Check
against delivery
I am delighted to be here this evening for the official re-opening
of Treacy’s Hotel in Enniscorthy. This hotel has undergone major refurbishment
with an investment of €5million ensuring that domestic and overseas customers
receive the best in quality Irish hospitality.
Enniscorthy is one of County Wexford's gems,
straddling the River Slaney and overlooked by its much-photographed castle. The
town has been transformed in recent times by tax-supported development which
has seen important additions to its urban hotel room stock, such as we are
celebrating here today. The transformation too of the grainstore with Dunnes
Stores as anchor tenant has also been welcome. Another example of a major
capital development impacting on tourism is Monart, as Ireland's premier
destination spa. All of these developments are of great benefit to the economy
of the town and county, and to unemployment and the people behind these
investments - people like the Treacy family - deserve our admiration,
congratulations and support.
The Treacy family has a long-established connection
with the hotel sector in the South East - in Waterford, Tramore, and more
recently Enniscorthy. Their speciality has been coach tourism, based on
excellent value propositions. Their success is underlined by the high level of
repeat and referred business to their hotels.
The Treacy family has made an important
contribution to the growth of tourism in the South East, especially through
their connections with the British coach market. I know that over 3,000 guests for example from the UK came
through Treacy's Hotel in 2008 – therefore benefiting the town of Enniscorthy. I know too, that the hotel has been very innovative offering golf
packages, active retirement weeks and kids clubs. I see also from your brochure that you arranged a murder mystery
weekend recently. In addition to all of
these attractions the hotel now houses two main restaurants specialising in
European and Thai cuisine.
Uniquely Treacy's Hotel has become Ireland's first
Geo-Thermal Hotel. Solid fuels are almost completely replaced by heat
pumps extracting and recycling ground water. This is what heats and cools the
hotel. This work has been carried out in conjunction with Sustainable
Energy Ireland (SEI) and local specialists.
I welcome this most innovative move by the Treacy's in helping to
improve Ireland’s tourism Carbon Footprint.
This property is the latest in a renewal and
expansion of Ireland’s hotel stock that is now the most modern in Europe. More
than €2.2billion has been invested in new and expanded hotels over the past
five years. This year alone saw the registration of 22
new hotels that provide an additional 1,172 guest rooms. Since 2006 there has been an increase of over 20%
in the number of hotel bedrooms registered with Fáilte Ireland and these have
spanned all classifications.
Ireland
has a long and proud tradition in registering, classifying and monitoring its
hotels and guesthouses. Statutory responsibility for this registration and
classification rests with Fáilte Ireland which last year, launched a new and
revised classification system designed to meet the needs of to-day’s hoteliers
and guesthouse owners, and their guests.
Our tourist industry provides great experiences and memories at all
levels of the market and this is reflected in the numbers of visitors who
choose Ireland as a holiday destination and by the high levels of satisfaction
that they report. The most recent Fáilte Ireland research shows that 93%
of visitors said that their holiday exceeded or matched expectations and a most
impressive 98% said that they would recommend a holiday in Ireland to family
and friends.
In addition to this satisfaction, it is worthwhile
noting that Irish tourism recorded growth in 2007 with a record number of 8
million overseas visitors and foreign exchange earnings of almost €5billion.
The sector now accounts for almost four per cent of GNP. It is estimated that
the tourism and hospitality sector now provides employment for more than 320,000
people.
Tourism has had a challenging year here in the South East, in line with
the experience of other regions. But there are many developments that I believe
will have a positive impact in the future. For example, the region has been
opened up further in terms of improved access from its main markets by road,
rail, sea and air. During the past year alone, we have seen:
All of these provide important additional
opportunities for the tourism sector in this region. All of these services are
heavily promoted and supported by Fáilte Ireland South East and by Tourism
Ireland in overseas markets. I can
vouch for that personally having attended the World Travel Market last month in
London where I witnessed the work in progress at first hand.
Wexford
has a very strong heritage product - the Hook Lighthouse, the
Dunbrody Famine Ship, the Irish National Heritage Park, the JFK Arboretum and
Johnstown Castle. I was delighted that Fáilte Ireland funding support
under the Tourism Capital Investment Programme of over €1.8 million has been
secured for the further development of the visitor experience of life on the
Dunbrody Famine Ship as well as the development of expanded onshore visitors
facilities. Recently we also witnessed the opening of the state of the art Wexford
Opera House which is a testimony to the vision, hard work and drive of the
people of Wexford. My Department
financed this new home for Wexford Festival Opera through the provision of
€26million. The Opera House's ambition and achievement is a matter of both
local and national significance.
Wexford's
Hook Peninsula is also part of the Pilot Family Fun Programme devised
by Fáilte Ireland South East to attract families to the region. In addition this year, Fáilte Ireland provided financial support
to the Enniscorthy Street Rhythms and Dance Festival in August which maintains
the town's long-standing focus on street festivities.
Family
run hotels have a vital role to play in the sustained expansion of tourism.
Despite the arrival of international brand hotels in recent years, family run
enterprises remain the core of our hotel sector, providing local communities
and visitors alike with traditional Irish hospitality at its best.
I
congratulate the Treacy family on your enterprise in developing and nurturing
this hotel which will be home from home for visitors and for the people of
Enniscorthy.
Thank
you. ENDS