• Tourism Ireland’s new boss aims to bring more high-value tourists

The bulk of her clientele is made up of families from Dublin looking for a digital detox. “The kids love to explore the woods and go pier jumping,” Heapes says. Most are repeat visitors but she has also seen a rise in the number of European visitors arriving by bicycle.

“We welcome them with open arms,” says Heapes, who recently changed the business name from Pure Camping. She knows from experience why slow tourism, which has less impact on the environment, is so important to cultivate. Since opening the business she has seen the impact of climate change first hand.

“There is a significant difference in the summers now. It tends to be drier earlier in the summer and then in July and August you get much heavier rain, big downpours from which the ground doesn’t dry out. It’s why we made the move to more cosy indoor spaces such as lodges and cabins,” she says.

But anything that encourages “dwell time” will be welcomed by tourism businesses. Research from Failte Ireland, the agency charged with developing the domestic sector, shows 80 per cent of tourism businesses expect bookings this year to be up on or the same as last year.

The cost of doing business remains a challenge, it found, with energy and payroll costs a cause of concern for more than half of operators. But the fact that tourism bed availability has increased, by 7.6 per cent, thanks to the cessation of government contracts and the opening of new accommodation capacity, is positive.

Central Statistics Office inbound tourism figures for last year showed revenue was up 11 per cent and the volume of international visitors up 5 per cent. But the key metric of nights stayed in the country was down 4 per cent. Fewer bed nights mean a corresponding decrease in meals eaten, attractions visited and cultural experiences enjoyed, with knock-on effects throughout the industry, according to the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation.

It also flagged up concerns that the average length of stay of European visitors fell 15 per cent, while business tourism bed nights were down 18 per cent.

North America has become increasingly important, accounting for 36 per cent of overall spend. While welcome, it brings the risk of overconcentration on one key source market. “There is a concern that we’re becoming slightly dependent on the US market and need to diversify,” Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, chief executive of the tourism confederation, says.

• The US big-shot tourists adding millions to the Irish economy

“The concern for 2025 is that, while we expect growth, it’s predicated on strong inbound US business and, given what’s going on in the US in terms of tariffs, the worry is that something could happen and the dollar or stock markets weaken, which would impact on US travel to Ireland.”

The industry has welcomed the government’s decision to move tourism from the culture and sport department to enterprise and employment, O’Mara Walsh says.

Ditto the commitment to restore a lower 9 per cent VAT rate for the hospitality sector. But as that will form part of the next budget, it won’t kick in until January 1. In the meantime, the industry must contend with the passenger cap — set almost 20 years ago at 32 million a year — on flights at Dublin airport.

“The government is committed to lifting the cap but nobody has yet said how they’re going to do it and in the meantime it’s mired in a planning process that is slow and cumbersome,” he says.

As Dublin airport is infrastructure of strategic national importance, its limits “shouldn’t be determined by a local authority, Fingal”, O’Mara Walsh adds. While the cap is lifted for the summer months, it means a drop in passenger numbers during the winter, with passenger numbers from the US down 4 per cent and from Britain down 3 per cent last winter.

“The other thing is that when the cap is in place, you get higher pricing,” says Alva Pearson Downey, chief executive of the Inbound Tourism Operators Association of Ireland. “It’s a serious matter and it needs to be fixed.”

The rising cost of doing business here is already challenging the competitiveness of Ireland’s tourism product. Surveys show seven out of ten US visitors consider Ireland to offer good value for money. For European visitors, that falls to four out of ten.

“At the moment, with the way the dollar is trading, we’re not price sensitive as such but competitiveness is critical,” Pearson Downey says.

After a slow start this year, summer bookings are starting to pick up for the third-generation hotelier Tina Darrer, of Dooley’s hotel in Waterford. “Since Covid, everything is really last-minute, so you’re left holding your breath. But by St Patrick’s Day the season was looking fairly strong,” Darrer says.

Costs are still an issue, particularly food prices. “Beef has become so expensive that we’ve considered taking dishes off the menu,” she says. “We’re competing against European destinations where they don’t have the same costs.”

She has had to go back and renegotiate contracts with tourism partners — never an easy conversation. “Our 2026 contracts were already completed, so it also means you’re going back over work you’ve already done,” Darrer says.

On the plus side, she hopes to benefit from the new push towards slow tourism. “We’re close to the train and bus stations and have Waterford’s Cultural Quarter just behind us,” she says. Indeed, Darrer just waved off an American couple keen to stay and explore using only public transport.

“They arrived by train, got a freedom pass to all the museums, took a guided walking tour and then hopped on local buses to explore everything from the Waterford crystal museum to the beach at Dungarvan, to the Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens in Tramore,” she says. “They told us they wanted to visit a community and an environment.” And that’s what they got.