Festival to create €6m for economy
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BUSINESSES in Tralee can expect a bumper week with thousands of visitors expected to pack the town for the Rose of Tralee's historic fiftieth anniversary celebrations, which get underway this Friday.
Tourism interests say they are expecting an increase of around 50 per cent on visitor numbers compared to last year's festival and the majority of Tralee's hotels are already entirely booked out.
According to Holiday Tralee, the majority of hotel rooms in Tralee have already been snapped up, as have most short-term rental apartments.
There are more than 1,100 hotel bedrooms in Tralee and most of these have been booked. There are enough beds in Tralee to accommodate 6,000 visitors and, with the vast majority taken, the town can expect large crowds for this year's event.
The crowds won't just be staying for the weekend either if hotel bookings are anything to go buy. Most hotels in the greater Tralee area are booked up solidly until after the festival reaches its historic conclusion next Wednesday.
Tourism chiefs expect the Rose festival to pump over €6 million into the local economy.
Despite concerns that recent poor weather would mean a drop in visitor numbers, the signs are good according to Met Eireann who say the weather is due to pick up as the weekend approaches.
Although numbers have declined in recent years the Rose's 50th birthday is proving a great selling point for visitors and Tralee hoteliers say they are expecting a busy week.
The recession and the fact that Irish punters are less inclined to splash out on foreign holidays is also leading to predictions of a bustling anniversary festival.
- SIMON BROUDER sbrouder@kerryman.ie
