UK drinkers key for Irish pubs

Just over half of Irish people bring international visitors to their local pub and 64 per cent bring their guests to their local restaurant – but just one per cent of them take their guests to the local tourist attraction.

That’s according to research carried out for the new Drinks Industry Group of Ireland, which is lobbying for a reduction in the level of tax and excise duty imposed on their business.

Their research also shows drinks and hospitality businesses, like pubs, remain a focal point of Irish culture, tourism and society.

And they established that 57% of pubs and 44% of restaurants rely on the UK as their most important tourism market, compared to only 18% of pubs and 17% of restaurants stating the USA as their number one tourism market.

But the group also pointed out that Ireland’s alcohol excise tax is the second highest in the EU—and DIGI wants to reduce it over the next two years,

“Many European governments like France, Italy and Germany, have nurtured a positive relationship with their drinks and hospitality businesses,” saif DIGI chair Rosemary Garth, who is also Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Irish Distillers.

The research among 1,000 Irish consumers, forms part of DIGI’s new report, Building a Sustainable Drinks and Hospitality Sector: The Role of Government Policy, authored by DCU economist Anthony Foley.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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