ABSTRACT
Tourists have been owing into Ireland in ever-increasing numbers over the last 30 years. Beginning in the 1970s, Ireland’s tourism economy began to evolve from a shop economy into a vital part of national development. As suggested, it was rst noticed as a destination by the privileged and wealthy in the 1700s, when English and Anglo-Irish holiday-makers would ock to Mallow or Lucan (Davies 1993) to the spas, but the exclusivity of that tourism experience in essence no longer exists. As mass-travel has become cheaper, air-space agreements, such as the Open Skies Agreement, have been worked out between destination and point of departure, and the world has become smaller through mass media, Ireland should no longer linger in memory or myth. Potential tourists can “virtually” tour Ireland prior to arrival through innovations in internet presentation, eyecatching advertorials, and clever placement of banners, information links, and live webcams focused on holiday honey pots. The images related to these virtual communities are carefully chosen to represent an idealized Ireland. Very little is supposedly left to the imagination, and few visitors arrive in Ireland without having had the opportunity to surf through the country prior to landing. According to a seasoned tour guide from Cork, many of the American, French, and German tourists she worked with throughout the year had found Internet information and were “reasonably” prepared for their trip (though she admitted that
many still expected a backward country lled with superstitious bumpkins and leprechauns). Not all tourists take advantage of the wide array of internet options available to them, but most at least have fantasized over the presentation of the Ireland that is packaged for the holiday visitor. Despite the availability of information, many (some would argue most) visitors to Ireland, especially those from the United States, Australia, and Canada, do little in the way of trip preparation and planning. Those linked with group tours tend to leave the decision making to others, are uninformed about the robust economic conditions of the country [see the Epilogue for an update], and have few insights regarding Ireland’s deep history.
