Ireland fails to attract tourists

THE Irish tourism sector has suffered another major body blow after a new survey claimed this country is one of the least popular destinations for European holidaymakers.

According to the EU-funded survey, based on the views of 30,000 randomly selected teens and adults in all member and associate member states, Ireland is now as popular among European tourists as Bulgaria.

Out of all planned foreign holidays this year, only 0.6% of people surveyed said they wanted to come to Ireland — on a par with the former communist state and Australia — and lagging behind Spain (6.6%), Italy (5.8%), France (4.4%) the US (3.5%) and Greece (3.1%).