Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
1124. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the extent to which particular sectors of the tourism sector to date in 2018 have shown particular potential for growth with consequent economic benefit in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25677/18]
View answerAfter a number of very successful years, indications are that 2018 will prove to be another good year for tourism in Ireland. Sentiment in the industry both overseas and here at home is generally positive for the remainder of 2018. Tourism Ireland’s aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue by a further 5% this year and to increase the number of overseas visitors by 2%.
The early signs are promising, with the CSO reporting in its Overseas Travel release that overseas trips to Ireland for the first four months of the year, at over 2.8 million visits, were up 7.3% on 2017, as follows:
- Visits from North America were up by 13.6%
- Visits from Mainland Europe were up by 12.3%
- Great Britain registered an increase of 1.1% in visits, and
- Visits from the rest of the world (long-haul) increased by 2.9%.
While the data only covers four months and it is too early to predict how the rest of the year might fare, it is a welcome start which indicates that we are well placed to build further on the outstanding growth of recent years. Revenue figures for overseas visitors in Q1 are due to be published this week and should also be positive based on the visitor numbers.
There is no CSO data published yet for domestic tourism in 2018 but indications are positive following a difficult, weather-related, start to the year. Fáilte Ireland reported in its Tourism Barometer in April that hotels have reported a strong performance from the domestic market.
Fáilte Ireland estimates that tourism now supports approximately 235,000 jobs across the country, making it a vital indigenous economic sector and one that supports communities in both rural and urban areas. Whilst we cannot be complacent about continued growth in tourism, the outlook for the remainder of the year looks positive.
