Data published by the CSO today (13th December 2017) confirms that growth in revenue associated with overseas visitors continued to grow for the first nine months of the year. The detailed figures from the CSO show that spending in Ireland by overseas visitors (excluding fares) for the first nine months of the year rose by 5% compared with the corresponding period of 2016. The data also shows that the number of trips in the key target market of holidaymakers rose by 6.2% over the same period. The figures are published in the CSO’s Tourism and Travel Q3 statistics. The figures are based on detailed surveys of overseas visitors and the CSO release also contains detailed information on expenditure, purpose of visit, and bednights.
The figures confirm strong growth in revenue from North America and long-haul markets. The performance from Europe has been steady while Great Britain has, as expected, experienced a decline. In terms of the expenditure associated with overseas visits, figures for the first nine months of 2017, compared to 2016, show that:
- · Overall, revenue was up by 5%
- · North America increased by 17.1%
- · Mainland Europe increased by 0.9%
- · “Other” long-haul markets increased by 11.5%
- · Great Britain decreased by -6.3%
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Ross T.D. said:
“The CSO revenue data released today shows the success of the market diversification strategy pursued in recent years. This places greater emphasis on attracting visitors from those markets who tend to stay longer and spend more while on holiday. The strong revenue returns from the North American and long-haul markets have helped to offset the well-flagged decline in the British market. Britain continues to be a key market for Irish tourism, one which we will continue to target, but these figures show the importance of improving and maintaining other markets. It is important that we build on this.
Tourism Ireland launched their 2018 marketing plans last week and I was pleased to hear of the comprehensive campaign it has planned, particularly diversification strategy. The additional €2 million allocated for investment in Tourism Ireland’s digital infrastructure in the Budget will underpin these efforts. It is important that the industry takes advantage of this work and make use of the supports available from Fáilte Ireland to attract new business.”
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin T.D. added
"I am pleased to see the 5% year on year growth in tourism revenue for the first nine months of 2017. Although it has been a year of some uncertainty globally, it is very encouraging that we have been able to continue to increase our overseas visit numbers and associated spend.
I am attending Tourism Ireland’s End of Year Media Briefing on Overseas Tourism today. There have been some real positives over the past twelve months, such as increased air access and massive exposure from initiatives such as Star Wars. In addition, working in collaboration with Fáilte Ireland and industry partners, Tourism Ireland has been implementing a series of actions in the British market to address the impact of Brexit and the fall in the value of sterling. However, we need to look forward form here. Whether domestically or in overseas promotion, we need to continue to excel at what we are doing in order to prosper in an increasingly competitive market place. As I have said on a number of occasions, the competiveness of the industry here will be vital in sustaining growth into 2018 and beyond”.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said:
“I am pleased to see growth in overseas visitor revenue of +5% in the period January-September this year, driven by +2.5% growth in overseas visitors. Within the total number of overseas visitors to Ireland, holiday visitors grew by +6% – that’s 218,000 additional holiday visitors. Particularly welcome is the continued strong performance from North America, with visitor numbers up +19% and an increase of almost +17% in spending by US and Canadian visitors – an outstanding performance. Tourism Ireland’s market diversification strategy has prioritised North America as a market which offers strong return on investment.
We have also seen growth in visitor numbers from Mainland Europe (+2.4%) and exceptionally strong growth from our long-haul markets, including Australia (+16.7%). The decline in visitor numbers from Britain continues to be a concern (-6.5% in the first nine months of the year). The fall in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors and, at the same time, made Britain more affordable for visitors from many of our top markets. This year, Tourism Ireland has placed a greater focus on our ‘culturally curious’ audience in Britain, because they are less impacted by currency fluctuations. However, competitiveness and value for money messages remain more important than ever right in Britain now.
“We’ve just launched our marketing plans for 2018, which will see us build on this year’s growth to deliver €6 billion (+5%) in overseas tourism revenue to the island of Ireland, by welcoming 10.8 million visitors.”
Commenting on today’s CSO data, Fáilte Ireland Director of Enterprise Development, Paul Keeley said:
“Today’s CSO data confirms that 2017 has been another year of growth with overall visitor numbers and revenue boosted by a spectacular performance from North America and an increase in the proportion of holidaymakers within the overall visitor mix. However, the European market is almost flat in terms of growth and the drop in British numbers remains the starkest feature of tourism performance this year. We must take care that future tourism growth does not become overly dependent on just one market – America – and work to ensure a healthy diversification of markets to minimise future risks to the health of the tourism sector.
As we roll out our new Get Brexit Ready programme around the country, we are particularly stressing the need for market diversification overseas in those parts where the greatest growth potential exists as well as specific strategies for retaining British business. We would urge tourism businesses to engage with the programme and they can find out more at getbrexitready.ie . Crucially, as Sterling’s relative weakness makes Britain a tougher market as well as a cheaper destination in its own right, everybody in the tourism industry needs now to be collectively focussed on competitiveness and value for money if we are to sustain future growth.”