Chips with everything under fire in Ireland
Hotels and restaurants in the Irish Republic have been warned that "repetitive, fatty, chips-with-everything menus" are upsetting visitors from the Continent who are being targeted by local tourist body Bord Fáilte.
According to a survey by CERT, the Irish tourism training agency, the main complaints are about an over-emphasis on fried foods and chips and not enough vegetables, salads and fish.
More than 1,000 visitors from France, Italy, Holland and Germany interviewed for the survey claimed that while Ireland's top restaurants were good but expensive, food in medium-priced restaurants and one-to-three-star hotels was of a poor quality and lacking in variety.
The tourists also favoured fixed-price lunch menus, with the Germans particularly critical of the high cost of dining out.
Urging hotels and restaurants to address the problems, CERT chairman Eamonn McKeown said the industry could not afford to ignore the criticisms, given that the European market represented a population of more than 300 million.
Henry O'Neill, chief executive of the Restaurants' Association of Ireland, said the sector had made huge progress in recent years. Complaints about prices "should be referred to the people who thought up VAT rates of 13.5% and 21%, not to mention those responsible for insurance costs."
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 23-29 January 2003