Ireland is continuing to live up to tourists’ expectations, according to Bord Fáilte's Visitor Attitude survey.
One third of visitors' experiences surpassed their expectations, and just four per cent were disappointed according to the survey released toady.
Mr Niall Reddy, acting chief executive of Bord Fáilte, said the survey shows that Ireland is doing well in the vast majority of cases and across all types of holidays.
While the foot-and-mouth crisis hit the industry hard with the first drop in visitor numbers in a decade, it does not seem to have adversely affected the attitudes of the visitors that did come to Ireland.
"This is a positive outcome for the industry, meaning that the difficulties with foot-and-mouth in 2001 will not have a legacy," Mr Reddy said.
Nine out of ten overseas visitors said that friendly and hospitable people were an important factor in choosing their Irish holiday. Ireland performs very strongly in this regard with 88 per cent of visitors declaring themselves ‘very satisfied’ with the friendliness encountered during their stay.
While there was a small decline in the number of tourists listing friendliness or hospitality as 'extremely important' in their decision to visit Ireland when compared to the very high citing this factor received in 2000, there were increases in people naming factors such as scenery and relaxation.
More than half of all holidaymakers are satisfied with all round value for money. British and American visitors, who enjoy strong currencies, were particularly satisfied.
The survey also shows that notwithstanding some structural improvements, dissatisfaction with roads and signage persists.
While criticism of negligence with regard to litter has lessened somewhat, one in eight tourists still look unfavourably on Ireland in this regard. This view would be most marked in responses from mainland European visitors.
Almost six million visitors came to Ireland in 2001, including over 900,000 from North America, 3.3 million from UK and 1.3 million from mainland Europe. Almost 5,000 holiday visitors completed the survey on their departure, from May to October.