Irish tourism target on course
Ireland is on course to meet its target for visitor numbers this year, Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue said today.
The latest figures show the number of tourists visiting the Republic in the year to end of August are up 4.5% on the same period last year.
“With the good out-turn for August and reports on the ground suggesting a strong performance for the industry in September, I am hopeful that we can meet our overall growth target for the year,” Mr O’Donoghue said.
“We seem to be holding our own in the British market which had been our major concern this year.
“Following a spectacular performance in 2004, with growth of almost 32%, growth from the non-US long-haul markets has slowed somewhat this year.
“The results show that the US performance has strengthened following a weak start to the year and I am hopeful of a positive outcome from that market by year end.
“Mainland Europe, with an increase of almost 15% for the year to date, continues to be the star performer.”
Tourism Ireland also welcomed the positive figures from the Central Statistics Office.
Chief executive Paul O’Toole said he was delighted to see continued growth in overall visitor numbers.
“This has been underpinned by an excellent performance from Europe where Germany and Spain in particular have yielded very positive results, driven largely by the huge increase in direct air access,” he said.
“We are also pleased to see the strong performance from the North American market.
“We saw increased transatlantic services kick in at the end of May and the results are evident. The recent announcement from Delta of further new transatlantic services planned for 2006 augurs well for future performance from this important market.
“The British market appears to be recovering well also and is showing the fruits of our new marketing strategy implemented following our root and branch review of the market last year.”
Mr O’Toole said it was important that the benefits of this growth should be enjoyed by the tourism industry across the regions.
“A considerable amount of our marketing efforts this year has been devoted to working with the regional authorities and industry on the ground to help boost regional spread,” he added.
