Overseas visitors down 25% in April due to ash cloud

THE closure of Irish airspace due to volcanic activity in April caused a dramatic reduction in the number of overseas visitors to Ireland.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, over a number of days that month also led to a sharp decrease in Irish residents making trips abroad.

The disruption to air travel in April represented further bad news for the already hard-pressed tourism industry. It was the primary reason why 151,300 less trips were taken to Ireland by foreign visitors in April compared with the same month in 2009.

The total number of overseas visitors arriving here fell by 25% to 456,500. Visitors from Britain fell by 14%, while trips by residents from mainland Europe dropped by 36.5% and from North America by 33%.

However, it still represented an increase on the number of overseas visitors to Ireland in March — largely due to seasonal factors.

In contrast, the number of foreign trips by Irish citizens in April was 417,900 — the lowest monthly total in the past four years with the exception of last December. It represented a 28% decline in overseas trips by Irish people.

So far this year the number of foreign visits made by Irish residents has fallen by 12.4% to 1,857,100 with more than 262,000 less trips being taken.

The overall number of visits to Ireland by overseas travellers to date in 2010 is down by 468,800 or 23.3% to 1,541,200.

Commenting on the CSO figures, Tourism Minister, Mary Hanafin, said people should not lose sight of the fact that more than 1.5 million overseas tourists had travelled to Ireland in the first four months of the year.

Ms Hanafin claimed the period was probably the most challenging ever faced by the tourism industry due to global economic conditions and the closure of airspace because of volcanic activity which led to the cancellation of 104,000 flights across Europe.

Ms Hanafin said it was important to put out the message that Ireland remained an attractive tourist destination which offered good value for money.

She said Tourism Ireland was spending €20m on a summer marketing campaign to promote Ireland in the key markets of Britain, France, Germany and the US during a period when more than 60% of holidaymakers visit here.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said the reduction in air travel in April was partly compensated for by a 20% rise in sea traffic.

Mr Gibbons insisted the tourism sector still had “everything to play for” as the summer season remained the busiest part of the year.

Meanwhile, the CSO also released new data which shows that the number of planning permissions granted for residential buildings in the first three months of 2010 is down by more than 61% compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

The total number of planning permissions granted for all developments between January and March was just 5,510 — down from 14,177 last year.