Tourism industry upbeat as visitor numbers stay level

The holiday industry yesterday sounded an upbeat note on the prospects for the coming high-tourist season.

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.