Press release
Ministers welcome early indications of another good year for tourism
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
CSO data published today shows that the number of overseas visits to Ireland for the first two months of 2018 increased by 7.9% compared to the corresponding period in 2017.
Commenting on the CSO data, Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, Shane Ross T.D. stated: “I am delighted to welcome growth in overseas visit numbers for the first two months of 2018. While it is still early days, it is a promising start for the year ahead and it would be a notable achievement to build further on the outstanding growth we have witnessed in recent years. Our goal now is to ensure that the growth we achieve is sustainable. All of us involved in tourism need to work towards this, in terms of when tourists come to Ireland, where tourists go and stay and what they do. Officials in my Department are currently drafting a Tourism Action Plan for 2018-2020, and sustainability will feature as a key theme throughout the plan which will include actions to ensure tourism grows in a sustainable manner.”
Comparing Jan/Feb ‘18 with Jan/Feb ’17:
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin T.D. added: “I am very happy to welcome this continued growth from overseas visits in early 2018. While we cannot read too much into the data as it only covers the first two months of the year, the increase from Britain is particularly welcome. I continue to monitor the markets along with our tourism agencies Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland in light of developments relating to Brexit. Mainland Europe is showing very promising early signs of growth in 2018, which is very encouraging as the strong performance of the region in 2017 showed the benefits of market diversification. On a recent trip to the US as part of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, I was able to witness first-hand the work that is being done in this vital market. The US is now our largest single source of overseas tourism revenue, this helps support and create jobs throughout the country. Given the dollar has weakened somewhat against the euro since this time last year, it is hugely important that we continue to offer value to our American visitors in 2018.”
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland stated: “Today’s figures from the CSO confirm that overseas visitor numbers increased by almost +8% in the first two months of 2018, around 84,700 additional overseas arrivals when compared with January-February 2017.
“We’ve seen strong results from Mainland Europe, up over +17.6% on January-February last year, with particularly strong performances from Germany (+30.5%), Italy (+40%) and Spain (+6%). Arrivals from North America grew by +4.2% in February, an extra 7,000 US and Canadian visitors. Ireland now welcomes over 10% of all American visitors to Europe – particularly noteworthy given the intense competition from other destinations. While we welcome the fact that arrivals from Britain are up +4% for the first two months of 2018, this doesn’t represent a turnaround in the long-term trend. The impact of Brexit on outbound travel from Britain, therefore, remains a concern. The fall in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors and has made Britain more affordable for visitors from many of our top markets. Competitiveness and value for money remain more important than ever in Britain this year.
“Tourism Ireland’s campaigns are now in full swing around the world. Our aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue in 2018 by +5%, to €6 billion, for the island of Ireland.”
The CEO of Fáilte Ireland, Paul Kelly, said: “Today we have another set of robust figures which reflect the strength of the tourism sector, but obviously it is too early in the year to draw hard and fast conclusions from the data we have to date. In Fáilte Ireland, we still anticipate that the British market may be down this year. We are working with hundreds of businesses across the country through our ‘Get Brexit Ready Programme’ to prepare for further consequences from the Brexit effect, and to minimise any exposure to our nearest overseas market. Fáilte Ireland is particularly helping businesses to diversify into other markets and to ensure their customer mix is balanced. Indeed we saw the first businesses who participated in the Fáilte Ireland ‘China Ready Programme’ graduate this week.
“Tourism sustains 235,000 jobs and generates revenue of €6.7bn, of which an estimated €1.6bn goes to the Exchequer. The key to maintaining this vital contribution to the Irish economy, and safeguarding it from fluctuations in overseas markets, is to build a compelling visitor experience which can compete globally.”