January visitor numbers plummet 26% on last year

IRELAND’S struggling tourism industry looks set to remain in the doldrums in 2010 as new figures show the number of overseas visitors here in January plummeted by 26%.

A total of 313,800 foreign tourists came to the Republic last January – 110,400 less than the same month in 2009.

The sharpest drop was in the number of visitors from Britain which were down almost 32% to 142,400.

The number of tourists from continental Europe also declined by just under 30% – down 44,400 to 105,100 with the largest decreases recorded in visitors from Poland, France, Italy and Germany.

It comes after a poor performance in 2009, when the overall number of foreign visitors fell by almost 12% to 6.9 million.

However, the dramatic reduction in the number of overseas visitors in January may be explained by the extended period of freezing weather which affected both Ireland and many parts of Europe that month.

The number of overseas trips taken by Irish people fell at a slower pace in January, down 10.6% to 448,900, the lowest January figure since 2006.

Reacting to the latest CSO figures, Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said the first quarter of 2010 had been extremely difficult for the sector.

He noted that the month of January accounts for about 6% of overall visitors each year.

However, Mr Gibbons said the extreme, treacherous weather conditions in Britain and across mainland Europe at the beginning of the year had undoubtedly impacted on tourism business in Ireland.

Mr Gibbons said Tourism Ireland has a comprehensive promotional programme under way around the world to restore growth to the number of overseas visitors to Ireland in 2010.

“The message is that there has never been a better time to visit the island of Ireland,” said Mr Gibbons.

He also pointed out that Tourism Ireland’s website had received a record 13 million hits last year which indicated continuing strong interest in Ireland as a holiday destination.

“We aim to convert that interest to sales in 2010,” Mr Gibbons said.

Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael’s tourism spokeswoman, said the slump in British visitors was at the heart of the tourism difficulties because of the differential between sterling and euro.

“While the UK is still an important market, as long as the currency differential exists we should be concentrating our efforts on the European market,” Ms Mitchell said.

Ms Mitchell said Fianna Fáil policies had helped cause the collapse and she challenged newly installed Tourism Minister Mary Hanafin to do a better job than her predecessor Martin Cullen.

“The most urgent measure is to deal with the huge shortfall in cars available for hire as a direct result of tax changes in the budget,” she said.

“Alongside this is Fianna Fáil’s determination to continue to levy the departure tax.”

Ryanair again called for an end to the €10 levy per departing passenger, claiming four million fewer passengers (a 13% slump) travelled through Irish airports in its first year.

The no-frills airline said its traffic had grown in countries which were not taxing tourists.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: “Ireland cannot grow tourism by taxing tourists and raising airport charges.

“The Government should ‘axe the tax’ and slash the DAA’s high charges as a matter of urgency before even more damage is done to Ireland’s vital tourism industry by this Government’s €10 tourist tax.”

Tourism Ireland said it has a comprehensive promotional programme under way in countries across the globe to help boost visitors to Ireland.