New figures released today from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that visitor numbers to Ireland have increased marginally in the first four months of 2017, compared to the same period last year.   
 
However, the figures show that the challenge of Brexit is very real and the drop in British visitor numbers (-10.7%) for the February to April period reflects this. 

A continued strong performance from North America has been recorded with today’s CSO figures confirming an increase of almost +26% for February to April.
 
Visitor numbers from Australia and Developing Markets for February to April are also strong, up almost +17%. Arrivals from Mainland Europe grew by over +2% – with important markets like France (+8.6%), Germany (+3.8%) and Spain (+10.4%) continuing to perform well.
 
Commenting on the figures, CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons said, "The decline in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors; and economic uncertainty is undoubtedly making British travellers more cautious about their discretionary spending. This is impacting on travel to Ireland. Therefore, competitiveness and the value for money message are more important than ever in Britain right now."

Source: www.businessworld.ie