The latest official data on overseas travel from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday showed an increase of 3.1% in overseas visits to Ireland for the first ten months of 2017 compared to the same period of 2016. 
   
This represents growth of over a quarter of a million additional visitors on the same ten-month period last year, coming on the back of a record performance in 2016. The data shows that for January to October 2017, visits from Mainland Europe grew by 4.4% while North America registered an increase of 16.4%. Visits from the rest of the world, mostly long-haul and developing markets, were up by 14.7% 

However, visits from Great Britain decreased by -6.1%. Tourism Ireland has warned that the decline in visitor numbers from Britain continues to be a concern. The fall in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors and has made Britain more affordable for visitors from many of Ireland's top markets. Tourism Ireland says it will continue to place a greater focus on Ireland's ‘culturally curious’ audience, who are less impacted by currency fluctuations. However, the group warns that competitiveness and the value for money message remain more important than ever in Britain right now.

It is expected that tourism will contribute in the region of €4.9 billion to the economy this year helping to sustain 225,000 jobs in communities across the country.

Speaking yesterday, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin said, "It is very encouraging that visit numbers for the first 10 months of 2017 are up 3.1%, when compared to the same period in 2016. Global developments have presented us with challenges this year and it is a good time to remind ourselves of the importance of remaining competitive in a crowded marketplace. The Government’s decision to retain the lower 9% VAT rate and the air travel tax at zero in Budget 2018 is evidence of how important we view this issue for the industry."

Source: www.businessworld.ie