Irish Trips Overseas Fall By Over 8%

The number of overseas trips by Irish residents fell by 8.4% to 502,100 in January 2009 compared to the 548,400 recorded in January 2008.

There were 424,200 overseas trips to Ireland in January 2009 and this was down by almost 3% from the same month in 2008. Visits by residents of Great Britain accounted for virtually all of this decrease, falling by almost 16,000 (7%) to 208,300.

Meanwhile, visits by residents of Other Europe and North America recorded slight increases to 149,500 and 45,200 respectively.

Commenting on the figures the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen T.D., insisted that, despite a challenging global environment, Ireland's overseas visitor numbers overall are holding up reasonably well.

"I am encouraged that the first published tourism figures for 2009 show good results from both Mainland Europe and North America which were up by 1.3% and 2.3% respectively on the corresponding month of 2008," he said. "The figure for Great Britain reflects the challenges with exchange rates and consumer sentiment. I know that the tourism agencies are doing all they can to ensure that this important market returns to growth as soon as possible.

"St. Patrick's Day traditionally marks the start of the Irish tourism season. While we are all aware of the exceptionally difficult global economic environment, I am confident that the tourism sector has the capacity to manage these cyclical challenges and that we will see a return to growth in the medium term."

"The widespread international publicity arising from the successful St Patrick's Festival this week gives a positive impetus to this year's marketing efforts overseas.

"Indeed, there is also great value to be had by the Irish holidaymaker who stays at home this year. The key tourism agencies - Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland - are now implementing business plans for 2009 focused on support for the marketing of Irish tourism, improving our product offerings and helping to improve business capability during this difficult period," he concluded.