Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD, and the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD today welcomed the latest official data on overseas travel from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which showed an increase of 11.6% in overseas visits to Ireland for the first ten months of 2016 compared to the same period of 2015.
Today’s CSO figures on Overseas Travel show:
At over 8.277 million visits, overall trips to Ireland were up 11.6% in the first ten months of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. For the three-month period from August to October 2016, overseas trips to Ireland increased by 9.4%.
Visits from Mainland Europe grew by 9.8% for January to October 2016, to 2,890,200 visits and by 6.4% for the August to October period.
North America registered an increase of 18% for January – October 2016 (1,584,600 visits) and of 22.2% in the August to October 2016 period;
Visits from Great Britain were up by 11.9% for January – October 2016 (3,335,000 visits) and by 7.9% for the three months from August to October 2016 compared to the corresponding period of 2015.
Visits from the rest of the world (mostly long-haul and developing markets) totalled 467,700 for the first ten months of 2016 (representing an increase of1.4%) and decreased by -1.4% for the three months from August to October.
Commenting on the figures, Minister Ross stated:
"As we approach the end of 2016, all the indications are that we will have enjoyed another record year for Irish tourism. We have been fortunate to enjoy consistent increases in terms of overall visitor numbers to Ireland and foreign revenue earnings in recent years. I am particularly pleased to note that the figures for August to October show that both the North American and British markets show an increase compared to the corresponding period in 2015. This is particularly positive following the outcome of the UK Referendum, as Great Britain continues to be a very important source market for Ireland. The Department and the tourism agencies continue to monitor our competitiveness as a tourist destination and assist enterprises in responding to changing conditions.
Focusing on North America, the performance was particularly strong in the period from August to October – registering growth of 22.2% in these three months compared to the same period in 2015. This is a strong endorsement of our marketing campaigns in that region. I also welcome the recent announcement from Aer Lingus on expansion of services between Ireland and the United States. "
Commenting on the figures, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan stated:
“Today’s figures represent a growth of 11.6% in overseas trips to Ireland when compared to the same period in 2015. The impressive growth in overseas visit numbers has been reflected in the number of those employed in the sector. The Quarterly National Household Survey, which was published on Tuesday, shows that in Q-3 2016 there were 153,200 people in Ireland employed in the Accommodation and Food services sector, representing an increase of 9.5% when compared to the same period in 2015.”
Commenting on the CSO figures, Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “Today’s figures indicate that this was the best ever month of October for Irish tourism, with more than 830,000 arrivals recorded. It was also the best ever January to October period for overseas visitors to Ireland, with almost 8.3 million arrivals, representing an increase of almost +12% – 858,000 additional overseas visitors when compared with the first ten months of 2015. It is clear that 2016 will be another record-breaking year for Irish tourism. We have seen exceptional results from North America for January to October – up +18% on the same ten-month period in 2015. I also welcome the strong increase in British visitors (almost +12%). And Mainland Europe has also turned in another excellent performance (almost +10%), with important markets like Spain, France, Germany and Benelux all recording good growth.
“Tourism Ireland has a number of late-season campaigns under way right now, to kick-start our promotional effort for 2017. Next week, we will outline our plans for 2017, when we will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that the island of Ireland continues to increase its share of the global travel business.”
Meanwhile, Shaun Quinn, chief executive of Fáilte Ireland commented: “These figures underline the fact that we have enjoyed a bumper season and we estimate that, by year’s end, some nine million tourists will have visited Ireland during the course of 2016. That will be a fifty percent increase on the levels recorded just six seasons ago.
“However, unexpected events during the year - such as Brexit - serve as a warning that we can take nothing in life for granted and are a good antidote to any creeping complacency in the tourism sector. Given that such volatility can occur in two of our biggest overseas visitor markets underlines the reality that future growth is not guaranteed and must be fought for. For the tourism sector, this will mean an increased focus on competitiveness and a greater focus on growing visitors from Europe where the potential for many more visitors and greater revenue exists “.