Spending in Ireland by overseas visitors increases 9.5%

More people from overseas are visiting Ireland, spending more money here and staying for longer, according to the latest Central Statistic office (CSO) figures.

The travel statistics showed revenue from overseas visitors rose by 9.5 per cent to €1.954 billion for the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2015.

However, while most people visiting from Europe increased their spending, expenditure by visitors from Germany has dropped.

About 192,000 people visiting from Germany spent €122 million from April to June in 2016, a decrease in expenditure of €24 million compared to the same period last year when 196,000 made the trip.

Tourists from Great Britain increased their spending by €23 million for the second quarter this year, visitors from France spent an extra €14 million and Italians, €12 million.

Visitors from the US and Canada increased spending by 5 per cent from €375 million for the quarter of 2015 to €395 million in 2016.

The number of nights spent in Ireland by overseas travellers increased by 5.3 per cent in the quarter compared with the same period of the previous year. while the average duration of overseas trips fell slightly from seven nights to 6.7.

‘Greatly encouraged’

Minister for Tourism Shane Ross said he was "greatly encouraged" by the continued growth of overseas revenue.

“Despite concerns that it would be difficult to grow on the results achieved in 2015, today’s data shows that the positive momentum has been maintained,” he said.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said the number of overseas visitors grew by 11 per cent to 3.9 million for the first half of 2016 - an extra 400,000 trips compared to the same period of 2015.

“This was an excellent first-half performance and reflects the sentiment we are hearing from our tourism industry partners, overseas and here at home. We are determined to ensure that tourism growth continues,” he said.

Minister of State for Tourism Patrick O’Donovan said the strong performance of the tourism sector contributed to the creation of jobs.