The number of visitors to the Republic continued to rise in the three months to the end of October in spite of a significant drop in the numbers arriving from Britain, figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
The total number of trips to the State increased 2.9 per cent to 2.93 million between August and October, an increase of 83,900 on the same period last year.
The British market continued to shrink, with trips to the State down 5.8 per cent to less than 1.05 million. The number of visitors from Britain has been down consistently since the decision to leave the EU in last year’s Brexit referendum and the subsequent fall in value of sterling.
Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said the weaker sterling value made short breaks to the Republic more expensive for British people while also making Britain a more attractive destination for tourists coming from other markets targeted by the Republic.
Trips by residents of European countries other than Britain were up 4.5 per cent to 1.02 million, while the number of visitors from North America increased 14.8 per cent to 682,500. Trips to the State from other regions such as Asia, Africa and Australia increased by 9.8 per cent to 183,200.
Tourism the other way
The number of people leaving the Republic on trips increased 7.6 per cent to 2.24 million in the same period.
The total number of trips made by Irish residents – both overseas and internal – increased 4.9 per cent to almost 5.18 million compared with the same three months last year.
In the 10 months to the end of October, the total number of trips to Ireland increased 3.1 per cent compared with the same period last year. Irish residents’ trips overseas during the period increased 7.8 per cent.
Were the numbers to continue at a similar rate for the whole of 2017 there would be be almost 10 million visits to Ireland over the year. However, the end result is expected to be greater given the busy Christmas period is coming.
Minister for Tourism Shane Ross said consistent increases in terms of overall visitors were welcome but he described the fall in numbers from Britain as “disappointing, if not surprising”.
He said tourism was estimated to contribute some €4.9 billion to the economy this year and would help to sustain 225,000 jobs.
