Failte Ireland says that the perception of poorer value for money is a bigger factor in shrinkage of Ireland's British market in 2017 - visits down by 5% (244K) - than is the weak GBP.
44% of 2017 British visitors said their trip was good value for the money, vs. 54% in 2015. And 21% said their holiday exceeded expectations, vs. 36% in 2015.
Most mentioned "poor value" items were eating and drinking and "cost of living generally."
Ireland has been struggling with the "ripoff republic" stigma on and off for a long time now. It's not good that this issue has arisen again while Ireland and the UK are trying to sort out Brexit and the Ireland-NI border.
