Vol. 500 No. 1
296 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the number of tourists he expects to visit Ireland in 1999; the countries from whence he expects the greatest number to come; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3311/99]
Bord Fáilte's forecasts for 1999 are for a 7 per cent growth in overseas visitor numbers to approximately 5.9 million and a 9 per cent growth in foreign revenue earnings to approximately £2.5 billion. While final outturns for 1998 are not yet available from the Central Statistics Office, it is expected, based on projections and recent performance, that our four largest markets will continue to be Britain, North America, Germany and France. Of a total of five million overseas visitors in 1997, 2.8 million came from Britain, 777,000 from North America, 303,000 from Germany and 250,000 from France.
