Fewer Visitors Coming To Ireland

The number of trips to Ireland by residents of Great Britain, Europe and North America fell in July 2008 compared to the same month in 2007.

Trips to Ireland by residents of Great Britain fell the most at just over 17% to 341,800, followed by North America, down 6.1% to 137,100 and those from other European countries falling marginally to 311,600.

Overall, trips to Ireland fell by 8.1% to 835,300 in July 2008 compared with July 2007.

A total of 4,537,000 trips have been taken to Ireland so far in 2008 which was just slightly more than the same period in 2007.

This contrasts with a growth of just over 4% in 2007 from 2006.

Overseas trips by Irish residents increased by just under 6% to 856,400 in July 2008 compared with July 2007.

This brings to 4,669,700 the number of overseas trips so far in 2008, which grew by 5.4% from the same period in 2007.

However, the rate of growth has declined from the 12.2% growth rate between the corresponding periods in 2006 and 2007.