merrion street

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar has welcomed the ongoing increase in visitor numbers so far this year, and predicted annual growth in visitor numbers for the first time in four years.

The latest travel figures from the CSO for July to September 2011 show that over 5 million visitors came to Ireland in the first nine months of the year - an increase of 10% on the same period in 2010.

"From an early stage this Government targeted tourism as a key growth area for the economy. That’s why the Jobs Initiative had such a strong tourism element. These latest figures, which cover the period from when the Jobs Initiative took effect, indicate that the measures are helping to sustain the rebound earlier in the year, and we are going to see annual growth in visitor numbers for the first time since 2007," Minister Varadkar said.

For the first nine months of 2011:

• Visitors from Great Britain were up by 7.4%

• Mainland European visitors were up by 12.3%

• North American numbers were up by 10.6%

• Other long haul routes were up by 15%

"It’s particularly heartening to see continued strong performance from Great Britain after a number of difficult years. While our British arrivals were up 6.8% in the third quarter, overall UK trips to the EU were marginally down 1%. Britain is still our most important market in terms of visitor numbers, and I am pleased to see that we are regaining market share.

"The challenge now is to maintain this growth. Last week I attended the World Travel Market in London and saw for myself the excellent work being done to promote Ireland as a holiday destination in Britain.

"I will be launching Tourism Ireland’s 2012 Marketing Plans later this month. We must continue to get the message out that there has never been a better time to visit Ireland in terms of the value available and the quality product on offer." 

Minister of State for Tourism Michael Ring said he was heartened to see that the trend for home holidays among Irish people continued during the year. "I think many Irish people who holidayed at home this year will have been surprised and delighted by what they found, in terms of the value and range on offer. I hope they will be persuaded to explore Ireland again in the coming years."