Shannon Airport has said that Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) figures published for August reaffirm the importance of Shannon to tourism along the Wild Atlantic Way and its wider catchment.
ITIC’s “Irish Tourism Dashboard” for August shows that the number of tourists that came into Shannon during the month grew at a greater rate than any other Irish airport, with the 213,000 tourists that flew into Shannon amounting to a 9% increase on the same month last year.
Responding to the news, Shannon Airport managing director Andrew Murphy asserted, “Tourism is huge for our catchment, which runs from Cork right up to the north-west and Shannon is a key enabler of it. We’re the premier gateway on the Wild Atlantic Way for international tourists and this year has proven yet again the market demand for services into Shannon.”
2018 Passenger Growth
Murphy said that overall passenger growth was up by 7% in the second quarter of 2018, with a significant increase, in particular, in transatlantic services.
He stated, “Transatlantic has performed extremely well for us this year but it’s essential that we deliver on this and, indeed, all our markets. We are the only airport on the Wild Atlantic Way with daily services across the key transatlantic, UK and European markets so there is an onus on us to deliver and we are delivering.”
“Our growth this year has been largely down to additional and improved services across all markets, including a new Toronto flight with Air Canada and new services to Barcelona-Reus, Bristol and Liverpool with Ryanair, while the airline also increased Manchester frequencies. We are also looking forward to Norwegian Air International expanding its Shannon/New York service for the winter season, which will also see Ryanair going year-round on Alicante, Spain.”
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
