Tourism industry upbeat as visitor numbers stay level
CSO statistics for February to April showed visitor numbers effectively level with the same time last year, with a marginal decrease of 0.2%.
Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “The global economic landscape has certainly presented a challenging environment for travel and tourism but our tourism industry and travel trade partners are generally quite positive about quarters two and three — with reports of enquiries and advance bookings being well up on this time last year.
“We welcome in particular today’s positive figures from Germany (+4.3%), Italy (+12.5%), and Benelux (+5.7%).
“Our extensive first-half [of the year] marketing campaign is in full swing across the world and we are working closely with our tourism partners to deliver growth in 2012.”
Mark Nolan, general manager of the five-star Dromoland Castle in Co Clare, said high-spending US tourists were returning.
“Things are upbeat and we are projecting a 15% increase in profitability for the year. We have met our budget for the first and second quarters so far.”
Mr Nolan said 55% of the hotel’s guests this year will be North American, stating that increasing marketing spend by the hotel on the US market over the past two years has paid off.
The president of the Irish Hotels’ Federation, Michael Vaughan, said: “We are cautiously optimistic. Colleag-ues in Dublin and Cork cities are reporting an increase in business faster than the rest of the country.”
He said: “It is also encouraging that there is an increased number of UK visitors to Ireland this year. I think we have turned the corner with the UK market and the growing strength of sterling would be a factor in that.”
B&B Ireland chief executive Helena Healy said business for B&Bs in the tourist hubs of Galway, Kinsale, and Killarney was up, but was reported to be down outside the hubs. &&
Ms Healy said: “It is early days and a lot of booking is last-minute so there is a lot to play for yet.”
Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar said: “Tourism figures have been relatively flat so far this year but we expect them to turn positive in the months ahead.”
According to the CSO figures, trips to Ireland from abroad fell to 1,401,100.
Trips by residents of North America to Ireland decreased by 7.2% to 178,400 while trips by residents of Britain increased by 0.3% to 653,100.
The number of visitors from European countries other than Britain was virtually unchanged at 497,700. However, visitors from other areas increased by 14.5% to 72,000.
The total number of overseas trips made by Irish residents decreased by 1.1% to 1,355,900.
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