Commenting on new figures published by the CSO for overseas tourists to Ireland for January to November 2019, Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons said, "[These] figures from the CSO indicate that overseas tourists increased by 1.5% in the first eleven months of 2019, around 150,500 more than in January-November 2018.
"2019 has been a mixed year for Irish tourism and this is reflected in [these] CSO figures. We've seen a small increase in tourists from Britain (+0.2%), a modest performance from both mainland Europe (+2%) and North America (+1.6%), and tourists from long-haul markets up 5.6%. However, the month of November has seen a disappointing decline of 7.1%, with a decline in tourists from Britain (-7.4%), mainland Europe (-6.8%) and North America (-9.5%) for the month of November alone.
"The figures very much reflect feedback from our industry partners on the ground, who've seen weaker demand this year. The continued uncertainty around Brexit is giving rise to consumer concern in Britain and some mainland European markets. There's also been a deterioration in air access capacity this year, with a 4% decline for this winter."
"New Three-Year Strategy"
Gibbons added, "We recently launched our new three-year strategy for 2020-2022 and our marketing plans for next year. The aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue to €6.54 billion (+13%) and visitor numbers to 12 million (+7%), by 2022. Tourism Ireland aims to spread the benefits of tourism more broadly across the island of Ireland on a year-round basis and to address the issues of capacity to ensure the visitor experience continues to be world-class."
© 2019 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
