Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr Leo Varadkar TD, has welcomed the ongoing increase in visitor numbers so far this year, and predicted annual growth in visitor numbers for the first time in four years.
The latest travel figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for July to September 2011 show that over 5 million visitors came to Ireland in the first nine months of the year - an increase of 10 per cent on the same period in 2010.
“From an early stage this Government targeted tourism as a key growth area for the economy. That’s why the Jobs Initiative had such a strong tourism element. These latest figures, which cover the period from when the Jobs Initiative took effect, indicate that the measures are helping to sustain the rebound earlier in the year, and we are going to see annual growth in visitor numbers for the first time since 2007,” Minister Varadkar said.
According to the CSO, for the first nine months of 2011, the number of visitors from Great Britain was up by 7.4 per cent. Numbers of visitors from mainland Europe were up by 12.3 per cent, while North American numbers were up by 10.6 per cent. Other long haul routes were up by 15 per cent.
“It’s particularly heartening to see continued strong performance from Great Britain after a number of difficult years. While our British arrivals were up 6.8 per cent in the third quarter, overall UK trips to the EU were marginally down 1 per cent. Britain is still our most important market in terms of visitor numbers, and I am pleased to see that we are regaining market share,” said Mr Varadkar.
