Tourists contribute €3.5bn to economy

Fáilte Ireland says number of visitors back at pre-recession level

The number of tourists visiting Ireland has grown for the fourth year in a row — contributing over €3.5bn to the economy.

According to Tourism Ireland, the growth in tourist numbers has come from all markets this year, with the US, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia all turning in record performances.

The positive news comes after Fáilte Ireland reported that the number of people visiting Ireland to holiday is now back at pre-recession levels — with the last 12 months on a par with the second best year ever.

At the beginning of this month, Tourism Ireland launched its marketing plans to promote Ireland around the world in 2015 and beyond, with the aim of attracting a record 7.74m visitors next year.

In the longer-term, the aim is to welcome some 10m visitors to Ireland in 2025, contributing €5bn to the economy and helping to maintain about 250,000 jobs.

However, the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has called for even more ambitious targets if recent growth is to be sustained.

Appearing before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications, IHF chief executive Tim Fenn pointed out that, since the downturn, funding allocation for tourism marketing and product development has been cut back substantially.

“This situation puts the long-term sustainable growth of Irish tourism at risk. There is now a pressing need to ensure that sufficient funding is allocated.

“We are calling for funding to be returned to 2012 levels at a minimum in order to maximise tourism’s growth potential,” he said.

Mr Fenn welcomed the targets set for growth in the coming year but said they could be more ambitious.

“While we welcome these targets, they should be more ambitious given the wider outlook for tourism in Europe. With additional resources, we believe Tourism Ireland could be well placed to meet these targets by 2020,” he said.

Also appearing before the tourism committee, the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) called for the drinks and hospitality sector to be adequately represented by tourism state agencies.

The group said this could be achieved by the enhanced promotion of the role of the pub in Ireland’s tourist offering, the establishment of a taskforce on the future of the pub, the reversal of the excise on alcohol in the next budget and the retention of the 9% Vat rate.

DIGI highlighted the importance of the drinks and hospitality sector to tourism. It stressed Fáilte Ireland research showed the Irish pub is main reason why people come here, while listening to music in an Irish pub is the main reason they would return.