Sir, – Further to your Editorial (March 11th), the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport agrees that up-to-date and quality statistics are important for the tourism industry, agencies and policymakers.
Officials from this department work closely with the CSO to find ways to reconcile the needs of these users with the independence and quality standards of the CSO. This co-operation has led to the resumption of the monthly publication of robust data on overseas visitor numbers since September 2011.
Later this year the CSO will resume publishing quarterly statistics for both overseas and domestic tourists, detailing the reason for their visit, their estimated spend, and the duration of their stay – with more details than ever before. These are welcome developments, and we thank the CSO for its exemplary work in this regard.
This information will be used by the Department and the State tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland. We hope the tourism industry will also use this data to better inform and direct its own marketing efforts and market research. – Yours, etc,
CAROLINE RYAN,
Press Officer,
Department of Transport,
Tourism & Sport,
Kildare Street,
Dublin 2.