Big jump in overseas visitor numbers

More than two million overseas visitors have travelled to Ireland this year already, a jump of 13%, figures released today show.

But while some areas are reaping the rewards, tourism chiefs say the increase in business is not being evenly spread across the country.

Some 2,040,800 tourists arrived in the country between January and April, according to the Central Statistics Office. That compares to 1,810,400 visitors for the same period last year.

The new figures showed a more positive beginning to this year’s season than had been the case in previous years, said Paul O’Toole, Chief Executive, Tourism Ireland.

“With events such as the Ryder Cup playing in Ireland’s favour, the outlook is certainly more positive but there is still some way to go,” he said.

“The strong performance from Britain, up 12% in the early months, shows that this important market is starting to recover,” he continued.

“Europe, our star performer last year, continues to perform well (+21%) and we are particularly pleased to see North America also start to show encouraging signs with 13% growth in April giving an increase of 2% overall for the first four months of the year.”

However, Mr O’Toole stressed the importance of how the surge in tourism was represented throughout the country.

“Feedback from the industry continues to tell us that business is not evenly spread and not all of the regions are enjoying this growth in visitor numbers,” he said.

“A number of new initiatives are in place in 2006 to address these issues. The Ryder Cup, one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world, takes place later in the year and will give a significant additional boost to the industry.

“We are exploiting all possible overseas marketing opportunities to capitalise on the potential of this most important sporting event,” he added.

The number of Irish people making trips abroad has also increased. In the first four months of this year some 1,890,700 travelled overseas, compared to 1,655,000 visits for the same period last year.