THERE WILL be an annual growth in visitors to Ireland this year for the first time since 2007, according to Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar.
Mr Varadkar’s comments yesterday were made following the publication of figures by the Central Statistics Office, which show an increase of 6.5 per cent in the number of overseas trips to Ireland from July to September. The figures also record a sharp fall in the number of trips abroad being taken by Irish citizens.
A total of 2,126,200 people visited Ireland during the three-month period from July to September, representing an overall increase of 129,600 on the same period last year.
The total number of overseas trips by Irish residents fell by 7 per cent, or 150,000, to 1,987,200 compared to the same period in 2010.
Linking the increase in visits to the Government’s jobs initiative, Mr Varadkar said: “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.”
The greatest increase was in visits from Britain – Ireland’s largest overseas market – with 6.8 per cent more travellers visiting during the period. A total of 910,500 trips were made to Ireland from Britain during this time.
Visits from other EU states increased by 5.8 per cent (up 40,900 to 741,800), while trips from North America were up 5.2 per cent, or 17,200, to 350,000.
Trips from all other areas rose by 12.3 per cent, or 13,600, to 123,800. Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said 2011 appeared to “mark a turning point for Irish tourism”.
He described the figures as “good news for everyone in the tourism industry” and said the continued “positive performance” from Britain was “particularly welcome”.
Mr Gibbons added that there was a strong performance from Australia and developing markets.
