Pikemen from Wexford and a troupe of Japanese drummers heralded Shane Ross's arrival at the Holiday World Show at the RDS in Dublin on Friday afternoon.
The Minister for Tourism was given a guard of honour made up of men and women dressed like 1798 rebels and was then made to wear a Japanese robe and break open a sake drum with a wooden hammer.
He described tourism as "a shining light" which was "vitally important to the economy as a whole". Mr Ross marvelled at the attendance as he surveyed a hall buzzing with people picking up brochures advertising trips from as far away as Argentina and Botswana and as close to home as Achill and Bundoran.
Stallholders and tour operators were upbeat about their prospects for the year ahead as the travel show opened for the 28th year. “I’ve sold twice as many pairs of sunglasses compared to last year,” one stallholder said. “I think it’s going to be a good year.”
Mixed bag
The chief executive of the Irish Travel Agent’s Association, Pat Dawson was almost as positive about the prospects for the year ahead, predicting that tourist numbers both into and out of the country would grow by double digits in 2017.
However he also pointed to challenges facing the industry. He said the cost of Spanish holidays was likely to climb this year as the numbers travelling south from Ireland and other parts of northern European had risen so significantly. This change came as other previously popular sunspots such as Tunisia and Egypt were cut off due to terrorism fears and political unrest.
Numbers travelling to the USA were likely to be sluggish this year compared to those travelling to Europe, he said. He also highlighted the challenges posed by Brexit. "It is true that it might be cheaper for people to travel to the UK from Ireland or to travel further afield using UK airports because of sterling's weakness and it will be much harder to bring people into Ireland from the UK for the same reason."
Mr Dawson also expressed concern at the some of the "excessive" baggage charges imposed by airlines flying to destinations in the Canaries, He said the cost of checking in a single bag for a trip to the Canaries could cost in excess of €100 on top of the cost of an airline ticket.
