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.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Paul O'Toole noted that Ireland had gained market share against very strong traditional competitors.

"We are very pleased with the overall 6% increase in overseas visitor numbers last year, particularly when benchmarked against western Europe, where projected growth rate in 2005 was just 4.3%," he said.

The CSO report revealed 144,100 more visitors from Britain and the number of visitors from other European countries grew by 311,800 in 2005. But the number of North American visitors fell by 25,900.

Of the Ryder Cup, Mr O'Toole said: "It's a unique and wonderful platform to showcase the island of Ireland around the world."

In December 2005, there were 497,700 trips to Ireland, compared with 436,200 in December 2004.

Tourism Ireland also said they would focus on promoting rural areas to visitors.

Mr O'Toole admitted last year had been a tough year and that improved investment would help spread tourism further afield.