Irish people are taking fewer holidays and fewer overseas visitors are coming here, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The figures show a continuation of a trend already underway for about a year now. Figures published this afternoon show trips abroad by Irish residents in July were down 11.3 per cent this year, to 759,800, compared with July last year when 856,400 trips abroad were made.
Some 759,600 visits to Ireland were made in July this year, compared with 835,300 in the same month last year, a drop of 9.1 per cent.
"The overall trend in the number of visits to Ireland is reflected in the state of the markets," says the CSO.
Visits by residents of Great Britain were down almost 8 per cent to 314,800 in July 2009, from 341,800 in July 2008. Visitors from other parts of Europe were down 11.2 per cent to 276,800 from 311,600, while visits from North American travellers were down by 5.1 per cent to 130,100, compared with 137,100 in July last year.
Visits from people from the rest of the world fell by 15.6 per cent to 37,900 in July, from 44,900 in July last year.
Irish trips abroad for the seven months to the end of July were down by 10.1 per cent, to 4,199,100, from 4,669,700 in the same period last year. Similarly, visits to Ireland in the first seven months were down 10.4 per cent, from 4,537,000 last year to 4,063,700 between January and July this year.
Commenting on the figures, Fine Gael's Tourism spokesperson Olivia Mitchell, said the summer season had been a "washout" and warned that many tourism-related businesses were experiencing difficulties.
"More widespread and dramatic policies are needed such as slashing VAT and reversing the travel tax," she said.
