Tourism targets €5bn revenue as visitors rise 10%

A 10% rise in visitor numbers will see the tourism industry earn €5bn a year within a decade, tourism minister predicts.

Big increases from the country’s main markets saw an extra 324,000 tourists arrive during the first six months of the year, compared to 2013, travel chiefs revealed.

The welcome influx beats the previous pre-crash record established in the first half of 2008 and showed that the industry was out of the “emergency”, Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe said.

Visitors from all main markets saw a rise, with British arrivals up by 13.6%; Americans up 10.6%; continental Europeans up 6%; and Australia and emerging long-haul routes increasing by 13.6%, according to CSO figures.

Mr Donohoe said the industry was on course to grow by almost half from its present €3.6bn contribution to the economy in just over a decade.

“Measures like a lower Vat rate; reducing the travel tax to zero; and an improved visa system have worked to the point where we are now out of the emergency. We now have to work together to deliver a business that’s worth €5bn by 2025,” Mr Donohoe said.

The tourism minister said he was aware of concerns expressed over the negative impact begging in central Dublin was doing to the city’s international image.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said the rise in tourist numbers was due to: “Great new products like the Wild Atlantic Way, great new air connectivity arising from the abolition of the air travel tax, so we have seen a significant spike in air access from all our main market areas.

“I am particularly pleased to see visitor numbers from Great Britain increasing by 13.6%. 2014 is also set to be another record year for tourism from North America.”

Tourism Ireland said it expects its global advertising to reach 200m people this year.

The organisation said it had a strong online presence as it was one of the top three tourist boards on social media.

Shannon Airport CEO, Neil Pakey, said Limerick’s city of culture status and the Wild Atlantic Way had both proved major attractions.

“Our passenger numbers at Shannon for the first six months of the year have even outpaced the national average as we are up by 15%,” he said.

The figures came as Ireland was chosen to host World Scout Moot 2021.

The 10-day gathering is expected to generate €8m in revenue.

“Some 5,000 Rover scouts aged 18-24 years old from 162 countries across the world will come to Ireland for this event,” Christy McCann, international commissioner, said.

Drug move

Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe is to launch a crackdown on driving under the influence of drugs after saying he is “very concerned” about the rise in fatal road crashes.

Since the start of the year, 123 people have been killed on Irish roads — six more than at this time in 2013.

“I’m very concerned by it, to see any family or individual touched by the horror of either loss of life or serious injury is something that would always deeply concern me. The fact there has been an increase versus where we were a year ago is something we are looking at very, very carefully.”

“An area that we need to do more on is the issue of people driving under the influence of drugs.

“I believe that this is an issue from a legislative point of view we need to address, and we will be looking at a future road traffic act to see how that could be done,” the minister said.