Ryder Cup to drive up visitor numbers, says tourism chief

THE Ryder Cup should be the perfect driver for another bumper year, tourism chiefs predicted yesterday, as figures showed almost seven million people visited the country last year.

There was a 6% rise in the number of people holidaying here in 2005, an increase of 403,200 on the 2004 total, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

And with the Ryder Cup expected to bring in thousands more visitors and millions of euro extra in revenue this year, tourism chiefs have predicted 2006 will be even more successful.