merrion street

16% increase in overseas visits to Ireland

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD and 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, which reported an increase of 16% in overseas visits to Ireland for the period February - April 2016 compared to February - April 2015.
Minister Ross said:  “I am pleased that, in my first weeks as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I can confirm that Irish tourism is on track for another excellent year.  The figures are very encouraging as we enter the peak tourism season.”
Comparing the three-month period Feb ‘16 – Apr ‘16 with the period Feb ’15 – Apr’15:
Overall visits to Ireland were up by 16% to 2.062 million visits;
North America was up by 19.9%;
Visits from Mainland Europe were up by 13.3%;
Visits from the rest of the world increased by 1.5%;
Great Britain registered an increase of 18.6%.
“Today’s release shows that all of our main target overseas markets are performing well.  I look forward to engaging with the tourism industry and the tourism agencies to ensure that this strong performance is maintained in the years ahead,” the Minister concluded.
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’ Donovan TD highlighted the significant contribution that tourism makes to job creation and regional economic development.
“Today’s publication shows that the impressive growth in overseas visitors which culminated in a record year in 2015 is continuing in 2016. The strong performance is also helping to grow employment in the tourism sector as evidenced by another release from the CSO last Tuesday.  The Quarterly National Household Survey figures indicate that employment in the ‘accommodation and food service activities’ sector was 145,900 (seasonally adjusted) for the first quarter of 2016, compared with 135,400 in the same period last year, a rise of 7.8%.  This is having real economic benefits for towns and villages right across the country”.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said:  “Today’s figures represent an excellent start to the year.  Our aim is to ensure that 2016 is another record-breaking year for Irish tourism and already we have seen an exceptional performance from North America for the three-month period of February to April – up almost +20% on the same three-month period in 2015.  Ireland now welcomes 10% of all American visitors to Europe – particularly noteworthy given the intense competition from other destinations.  I also welcome the strong increase in British visitors (+18.6%), our largest market for overseas tourism.  Mainland Europe has also turned in a stellar performance (+13%) – with important markets like Italy (+14%), Spain (almost 17%), France (+10%), Germany (+7.4%), the Nordic region (+11.5%) and Benelux (+31%) all showing record growth.  Today’s figures very much reflect the sentiment expressed by our tourism industry partners overseas, including tour operators and carriers, as well as tourism businesses here at home.”
Welcoming today’s figures, Fáilte Ireland CEO Shaun Quinn cautioned:  “These figures are very welcome with particularly impressive results in our British and American markets.  The growth of recent years has been hard won and we must continue to work hard to secure future growth.  The spectre of Brexit, international incidents, volatile currency movements – all have the potential to change the script suddenly for Irish tourism.  To weatherproof ourselves against any external shocks, we need to avoid any complacency and ensure that we maintain the competitiveness we have built up over the last few years.”