merrion street

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has today noted the latest official data on overseas travel from the Central Statistics Office, which has reported an increase of nearly 13% in overseas visits to Ireland for the first half of 2011.

Visits from North America increased by 15% and from Great Britain by 7.9% compared to the first half of 2010. Notably, visits from other long-haul markets increased by 17.4% while visits from Europe other than Britain increased by 17.6%. This contrasts with a fall in Irish trips overseas of 2.3% for the first half of 2011.

Indications of recovery are supported by data from private sector surveys, such as the STR Global report recently highlighted by Deloitte showing Dublin hotel occupancy rates up 9.9%.

The Minister said:

Clearly comparisons with the first half of 2010 are distorted by the impact of severe weather and the volcanic ash on travel between March and May last year. Nonetheless, today’s figures confirm indications on the ground that overseas travel to Ireland is moving into recovery. The Government will continue to prioritise tourism as a key industry in Ireland’s economic recovery, utilising the measures contained in our Jobs Initiative.

I am particularly pleased to see that numbers from North America and from other long-haul markets are almost back to 2008 levels.

While the figures are a positive indication, we cannot afford to be complacent. With continuing economic uncertainty in most of our key overseas markets, the tourism agencies and the industry will continue to work together to restore sustainable growth to this vital sector. The Government is playing its part through measures such as the VAT cut, reduced employers’ PRSI, and the visa waiver scheme, to support competitiveness as well as key investments to upgrade our tourism products and attractions.

Read the full press release here.