Visitor Numbers Up 5%
Speaking at Fáilte Ireland’s End of Year Review and Outlook for 2008, Gillian Bowler, Chairman of Fáilte Ireland said: “For the sixth consecutive year Irish tourism has grown and it has been generally a very good year for Ireland in terms of total visitors. Overseas earnings were also up, although the rate of revenue growth, at five per cent, was less than expected and just kept pace with inflation.
Overall, many parts of Ireland benefited from the growth in visitor numbers, with most regions experiencing growth. However, the picture between regions remains quite variable with urban centres tending to benefit most.
Predictions for 2008
As for the coming season, the early indications from our latest research points to considerable optimism within the industry with 90% of tourism operators surveyed maintaining that the coming year will be at least as good as 2007.
However given the unpredictable nature of a number of key factors including the weakness of the dollar, oil prices and financial markets, the level of growth for 2008 is difficult to assess.
Importance of the International Market
The reliance on the home holiday market by some sectors of the industry outside of Dublin remains a cause of concern. The number of nights spent in hotels by Irish people increased by 26% in 2007 and accounted for 62% of total nights spent in hotels by all tourists.
Ireland will continue to grow the domestic market while working in close collaboration with the tourism industry and Tourism Ireland on driving growth in the international leisure segment to reduce this reliance.
Mainland Europe produced the strongest growth in overseas visitors with significant increases from France, Spain and the Nordic countries, and good growth from Italy, Germany and Switzerland.
Emerging Markets
The emerging markets in Eastern and Central Europe continue to generate significant increases. More modest growth came from North America and the other long haul markets while visitor numbers from Britain were slightly down on last year.
Visitor satisfaction levels with their holiday in Ireland remained high in 2007 – for 93% their holiday either exceeded or matched their expectations and 98% said they would recommend a holiday in Ireland. Their satisfaction with specific elements of their holiday here was very consistent:
· beautiful scenery (90%)
· friendly people (86%)
· natural, unspoilt environment (80%)
· safety and security (78%)
Tourism across the Regions
The overall increase in overseas visitor numbers is apparent at the regional level although some regions benefited significantly more than others. The North West and South East regions enjoyed above average growth. Dublin, the West and South West also increased their overseas visitor numbers. The performance in East and Midlands was on a par with 2006 while the Shannon region experienced a decline following an exceptionally strong performance in 2006.”
Full report at Failte Ireland under ‘Corporate Communications’