Number of tourists to Ireland in 2016 set to top nine million

Tourist visits to the Republic are expected to top nine million by the end of the year, delivering yet another bumper year for the hospitality industry, but Fáilte Ireland has warned of the potential consequences of Brexit.

Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures for the first 10 months of the year show business is booming, with significant increases in all key markets, the US, Europe and Britain. But Fáilte Ireland has advised hoteliers to diversify in a bid to protect earnings from the effects of a declining British currency. Chief executive Shaun Quinn said a prudent move would be “greater focus on growing visitors from Europe where the potential for many more visitors and greater revenue exists “.

The increase in visitor numbers was immediately welcomed by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross, who particularly mentioned the increase in visits from North America, something he attributed to good marketing in the region.

But tourism interests themselves were cautious. Joe Dolan, president of the Irish Hotels Federation, said the industry did not expect growth rates from Britain to be sustained. He said that many tours this year would have been pre-booked, with tour operators having bought euro before the UK vote to leave the EU.

Mr Dolan, who operates the Bush Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon in Co Leitrim, said about 20 per cent of tourists in places such as Dublin and Killarney were British, but when you looked at Leitrim and Cavan the percentage of tourists who are British shot up to about 80 per cent.

Mr Dolan will address the National Tourism Forum in Killarney on Friday on the critical need to rebalance the “inequitable spread” of tourism. Mr Dolan will tell delegates that while there has been strong growth, the recovery hasn’t been even, and that as the UK market provides the deepest rural and regional penetration of all visitors, Brexit is a major concern.

The CSO figures published on Thursday, covering the first 10 months of the year, showed:

– visits from mainland Europe rose by 9.8 per cent from January to October 2016, to 2.9 million visits, and by 6.4 per cent for the August to October period;

– visits from North America registered an increase of 18 per cent from January to October 2016, to 1.6 million visits, and of 22.2 per cent from August to October;

– Visits from Great Britain were up by 11.9 per cent from January to October 2016, to 3.3 million, and by 7.9 per cent for the three months from August to October 2016, compared with the corresponding period of 2015.

– Visits from the rest of the world, mostly long-haul and developing markets, totalled 467,700 for the first 10 months of 2016, an increase of1.4 per cent, and decreased by 1.4 per cent for the three months from August to October.

Some 153,200 people in Ireland are employed in the accommodation and food services sector, an increase of 9.5 per cent when compared with the same period in 2015.