Friday, March 16, 2018
According to the latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), revenue from overseas visitors to Ireland grew by +6.5% during 2017, ensuring an additional €292 million for the Irish economy compared to 2016.
Tourism Ireland is particularly pleased with the continued strong performance from North America, with visitor numbers going up +16.3% and an increase of almost +14% in spending by US and Canadian visitors.
Tourism Ireland’s market diversification strategy has marked North America as a market offering strong return on investment. Ireland has also seen growth in visitor numbers from Mainland Europe (almost +5%) and long-haul markets, including Australia (almost +13%).
However, the decline in visitor numbers from Britain continues to be a concern for Tourism Ireland (-4.6% in 2017). Fall in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks in Ireland more expensive for British visitors. Contrarily, it has made Britain more affordable for visitors from many of Ireland’s top markets.
The CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons said, “Our focus now is very much on 2018. Our aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue this year by +5%, to €6 billion, for the island of Ireland. Our promotions will receive a tremendous boost over the coming days, with our Global Greening initiative for St Patrick’s Day, which is bigger and better than ever before.
St Patrick’s Day traditionally marks the real start of the tourism season for us and we intend to take every opportunity to capitalise on Ireland’s heightened profile.”
Tags: ireland
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