Overall Travel Numbers Continue To Fall In March

In March, the number of trips abroad by Irish residents was down 15.4% to 563,700 compared to the same month in 2008. This brings the total number of trips abroad for the first quarter of 2009 to 1,539,800 which fell short of the same period in 2008 by 12.6%.

Overseas visits to Ireland fell by 16% to 532,800 in March 2009 compared to March 2008. The decline of over 96,000 (26.3%) to 269,400 in the number of visits by residents of Great Britain was again the principal determining factor.

Visits by residents of North America were down by just over 8% to 59,600 while those from other European nations actually increased by 2.8% to 190,100.

Visits to Ireland overall for the first quarter of 2009, at 1,402,200, were 9.1% less than the same period in 2008.