According to a new report on the pub sector from AIB, despite there being a 6% decline in the number of UK residents traveling to Ireland in 2017, the number of British visitors to Irish pubs last year actually rose by 6%.
Commenting on the report's findings, AIB's head of hospitality and tourism, David McCarthy, said, "When we review card usage data in pubs from AIB Merchant Services, we can see a 6 per cent increase in spending by UK visitors in pubs in the 12 months to the end of October 2017."
McCarthy added that as a result, "We can see that the overall risk of Brexit on the pub sector is not excessive and the market actually grew over the past 12 months despite a decline in UK visitor numbers."
However, McCarthy also cautioned, "Some pubs do have a higher level of exposure to UK visitors and they need to be mindful of the implications of further sterling devaluations and any potential future travel restrictions post-Brexit."
Meanwhile, revenues from US visitors rose by 9.1% over the past year, with revenues from other markets increasing by 5.6% while revenues from the domestic market grew by 5.8%.
