Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue has said that confidence has returned in Ireland as a tourist destination after figures released today show a 14 per cent increase in visitor numbers to Ireland in September.
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue has said that confidence has returned in Ireland as a tourist destination after figures released today show a 14 per cent increase in visitor numbers to Ireland in September alone.
The figures, released by the Central Statistics Office, show that 738,400 overseas visitors came to Ireland in September, an increase of 14% on the corresponding month in 2005.
Minister O'Donoghue said: "I am delighted that September, the month of the Ryder Cup, has seen an extra 90,000 visitors to Ireland . They may not have all visited the Ryder Cup but I have no doubt whatsoever that we received a big boost from the publicity leading up to the successful staging of the event."
The number of visitors from North America alone increased by over 19 per cent or 19,400 on September 2005.
"Fáilte Ireland on the ground here in Ireland and Tourism Ireland in our overseas markets did a great job and they deserve all credit for it. The fact that we had almost 14% more overseas visitors than the same month in 2005, including an increase of over 19% from North America, is strong evidence that the hard work, which went into securing and promoting the Ryder Cup, had an effect in September and I believe the real effect has yet to come.
"These figures back-up what I have been saying recently, that the confidence is back in Irish tourism", added the Minister. Overall, in the year to September, the CSO reported that the number of visitors to Ireland from overseas was up by 11.2% on the same period last year.