As a child raised in the west of Ireland, two memories stick out from my first family holiday abroad in the early Nineties, to an uncle’s wedding in Boston: how rancid the Aer Lingus flight’s smoking section was; and how confusing it was that people who had never been to my homeland kept on telling me they were Irish.
I didn’t understand it back then, but members of Ireland’s tourism industry have long been happy to encourage these sentiments: they’re very good for business. The recent announcement that the US airline Delta will reinstate daily flights from New York’s JFK Airport to Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland from May next year brings the commercial value of that kinship into focus. It will see up to 2,700 extra visitors arrive in Ireland every week.
They’re assured a warm welcome. Among the Irish hospitality professionals I spoke to, American holidaymakers are regarded as friendly and spendy, an agreeable reputation that’s borne out by research from Tourism Ireland, the body that manages tourism across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Back in 2019 (the last year for which figures are available), Ireland welcomed 11.3 million overseas visitors, who spent €5.9 billion: Great Britain was the lead source market, with the United States coming second. But the €1.6 billion those 1.7 million Americans spent superseded every other market, and they spread the wealth – they stayed eight nights on average and travelled all around the country while they were at it.
And Shannon Airport makes an ideal starting and end point for many of the experiences they’re known to appreciate. It connects to the Wild Atlantic Way coastal driving route which skelters in spectacular fashion along cliff sides and sea roads, all the way from the culinary delights of south Cork and the natural splendour of Kerry up to Clare’s beautifully bleak Burren landscape, the Irish-speaking heartlands of Galway’s Gaeltacht and on to Donegal’s beautiful, empty beaches and rolling hillsides.
Anyone who drives along that route will happen upon the ruins of dilapidated cottages, abandoned during the Famine era of the mid-1800s, when over 1 million Irish people starved to death and a similar amount emigrated. Many of those who fled made their way to America, and in the most recent census some 32 million Americans stated they are Irish American.
Many of those individuals visit Ireland to explore those links, and the country’s hospitality businesses are happy to help them. A 15-minute drive from Shannon Airport, the upmarket Dromoland Castle hotel offers a €220 Genealogy Package with its resident genealogist Lorna Moloney who researches guests’ family trees before helping them to plan visits to the villages and graveyards that are a gateway to their forebears.
A couple of hours’ drive north, the remarkable Ashford Castle hotel (itself dating from 1228) offers a number of Extraordinary Irish Experiences packages that provide nuanced introductions to Irish artisans, musicians, storytellers and more. Depending on their political leanings, American guests might then be inclined to overnight in the hotel’s lakeside Reagan Suite, named after that illustrious former guest. He is one of eight American presidents to visit the country, alongside John F. Kennedy, Nixon, and the last five presidents.
Those state visits to Ireland are now so customary that some locals think the cost and security protocols a nuisance, but they’re unrepresentative of the typical American arrival. The proprietor of Galway city’s Kai restaurant, Jess Murphy says it can take Americans a bit of time to adjust to Irish hospitality.
“Irish hospitality is more humble and gentle than the States, where a lot of people work for tips, and great craic too because someone will be pulling the piss out of you, in good humour, while they serve you. But they love that we don’t take ourselves too seriously and we’re not too stuffy. And our American guests are so mannerly; I love them.”
And what about any cultural misunderstandings: “I often have to explain we don’t have ‘specials’ because we might only serve five freshly made dishes using whatever’s best that day and everything is special.
“And often we don’t have a million gallons of ice water ready when they come in, which is what they like to drink. Ireland’s cold enough anyway and our dental care isn’t top notch like theirs, so we can’t tolerate that much ice.”
Mismatched expectations can work both ways. A friend told me of two brash Manhattanites who were disappointed that the ancient community pub they discovered on Mayo’s remote Achill Island didn’t have olives on standby to make their usual dirty martinis.
But Laura Behan, the manager at Ballymaloe, a country-house hotel famed in Ireland for its restaurant, finds that American guests are often “blown away” by the dining experience.
“Ireland is incredibly lucky in terms of its seafood and meat, and unlike America a huge amount of our food is still farmed in a non-industrial manner. Our produce is grown at Ballymaloe or locally sourced. It’s often completely organic and we don’t need to do much with it, it just sings on the plate. Things taste like they should taste here, and it’s a little bit scary that people who visit sometimes aren’t used to that.”
Another short drive from Shannon, the grand Adare Manor is grateful for American custom too: rooms start at €525 and about half the hotel’s guests come from the US. The resort’s exceptional golf course will host the 2027 Ryder Cup, where American and European players will compete, and the course is booming.
All non-resident slots have already been booked out for 2024, but there’s still availability for overnight guests – at a rate of €450 per person, plus caddie fees. (Among the many other golf resorts that may have more availability, Donald Trump’s Trump Doonbeg is about an hour from Adare.)
And there are other enticements to visit. One of the proprietors of Kerry’s Park Hotel Kenmare hotel, which is enveloped by some of Ireland’s most breathtaking scenery, John Brennan has noted the enduring role popular Irish culture plays in encouraging Americans to visit the country. From The Banshees of Inisherin’s Oscars nod to Cillian Murphy’s recent Oppenheimer omnipotence to U2 hosting the inaugural performance at Vegas’s $2 billion Sphere, this small nation has a knack of remaining prominent.
In fact, one of its perceived summer-holiday shortcomings is now being repackaged as a positive. In light of increasing global temperatures, the team at Park Hotel Kenmare has noted more Americans from the likes of California and Texas are planning trips to Ireland where they can enjoy the frequent rains and mild temperatures that are so easy to find throughout the country.
