Absence of Cork Ferry is hitting South Wales economy

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 7th Jul 2008

The absence of a ferry between Swansea and Cork is hitting the South Wales economy by as much as £65 million a year, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black, has said.

Mr. Black is urging local residents to sign an on-line petition calling for the reinstatement of the service, which ceased to operate in 2006 after the owners sold the ferry. The link between Wales and Ireland carried 120,000 passengers a year before it was terminated, an influx that brought in a total of £65m a year to the Welsh economy. In Swansea and West Wales, the hotel, pub, restaurant and bed and breakfast trade has been hit by the loss of Irish visitors. The route was also heavily used by English and European tourists, many of whom stopped overnight in Swansea on their way to Ireland.

So far the e-petition has been signed by over 1,200 people after being set up by two Irish businessmen. Comments on the site have indicated that 30% of those who signed have reduced the number of trips they make to and from Ireland or stopped altogether since the service ceased. Many find other routes less convenient whilst 23% say that the extra travelling is preventing them seeing their friends and family.

"While Swansea and South West Wales has been lucky not to have suffered the dip in tourism that Cork has, that is more to do with the success of Swansea Council in bringing new developments to Swansea, such as the revamped leisure centre." said Mr Black. "Tourism increased by 4% last year, however it is likely that this figure would have been higher had the ferry service still been running. That is backed up by the survey on the website."

"South Wales has some wonderful tourist attractions, such as the beaches on Gower, Mumbles the Brecon Beacons and our fantastic food and beer. I would love to see as many tourists from all corners of the globe visit the area. It is vital that we maintain cultural and economic links with our Irish neighbours and the ferry was the ideal place to do that. I would urge all parties to work together to recreate this link as quickly as possible."

ENDS

Note: The petition can be found at http://www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com/

Comments on the e-petition:

Comment

%

Other routes are much less convenient than Swansea-Cork

48

It's affecting tourism (or) we would use the ferry as tourists

42

We've reduced the number of trips we make to Ireland (or stopped altogether) since the ferry stopped

30

The extra travelling is preventing us from seeing our friends and family

23

The extra travelling is bad for road safety

14

It's affecting employment & industry

10

It's bad for the environment

10