TOURISTS FLOCK TO IRELAND

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5326, 12 February 1947, Page 2

TOURISTS FLOCK TO IRELAND

PLENTY OF FOOiD LURES . BRITISHERS DUBLIN Eire to-day is enjoying what may prove be its biggest tourist boom. The postwar period has brought many thouisands of visitors and hotels throughout the countryi have been bookedi up for months in advance. The season now ending should constitute an all-time record for the country. Mone'y has been spbnt freely and record business is reported in Dublin and other centres. Lured by the prospects of a holiday ; in a land where food is. plentiful, | English, Scottish, and American visj itors have flocked1 to Eire. Shops are well stocked and utility clothes (are unk!no|wn. Wjearing apparel generally is still rationed, but a boolc of ^oupons can be bought in Dublin for a few shillings. For some years to come, the size of the Irish tourist traflic may be governed' mainly by the country's capacity to accommodate visitors, for hotel-owners are affected by the world shortage of huilding* materials. Many hotels and guest-houses have already prepared their plans for extensions and alterations so as to be ready when the necessary material is available. Aware of the prospects of the tourist industry, the Eire Govemment has set up an Irish Tourist Board to eontrol existing hotels and to erect modern luxury hotels in various parts of the country where the need exists. The word "hotel" cannot now be used in respect of premises without " the prioi* approval of the Irish Tourist Board. Three new Tourist Board luxury hotels were opened early in the year, and they did brisk business. Large numbers of visitors crossed • the border from Northern Ireland, where austerity still rules. ' The ti'ans-Atlantic air base at Rineanna, a hundred miles from Dublin, brouglit in most of the American visitors. Rineanna handles 20 to 25 aii*liners a day. Hotel-owners, realising that the present boom pex*k>d may be only a temporax*y phase, are ta'king steps to improve their premises in every way. Managers of two leading hotels have flown to America to study 'methods yxex*e. •