Tourists to visit Ireland in record numbers

A RECORD number of people will visit Ireland this year, according to early indications.

Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue said feedback from the tourism sector so far this year was “extremely positive”. The minister yesterday declared himself optimistic that the target of recording a 5% increase on last year’s record number of 6.3 million overseas tourists was achievable.

He particularly welcomed a large increase in the number of additional air routes into Ireland this year which had seen access capacity to continental Europe grow by 40% as well as a large number of extra flights from new and existing destinations serving both Britain and the US.

Mr O’Donoghue said additional flights into regional airports should also help to redress an imbalance which had grown in recent years between the number of tourists visiting Dublin and rural parts of the country.

Speaking at the launch of Meitheal (Ireland’s largest tourism trade fair) at the RDS in Dublin, Mr O’Donoghue expressed confidence that the sector would build on last year’s revenues of €5.1 billion.

More than 320 overseas tour operators from 33 countries, including seven major buyers from China, will visit the fair which is organised jointly by Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland. The minister said the organisers of Meitheal expected that over €800m worth of trade will be conducted by the 550 representatives of various strands of the Irish tourism industry.

Fáilte Ireland chief executive Shaun Quinn said tourism interests were relatively upbeat about the outlook for 2005 with the owners of hotels, hostels, golf courses and transport companies all expecting more business than the previous year. However, the owners of bed and breakfasts and self-catering facilities have expressed more doubt about their prospects on the basis of increased competition from other accommodation providers.

Mr Quinn said there had been strong evidence of a recovery in important special interest activities such as golf and hill-walking which had suffered following 9/11 and the foot and mouth crisis in 2001. He predicted that the Ryder Cup, which will be staged at the K Club in Straffan, Co Kildare, next year will be worth €140m to the economy.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Paul O’Toole said it was difficult to predict overseas tourism numbers for the remainder of the year due to the growing trend of late booking decisions.

Mr O’Toole said recent marketing efforts had placed a special focus on the number of visitors from Britain which had fallen last year.