CONTINENTAL COUNTRIES are now the single biggest market for Irish tourism, with visitors from these countries spending more here than their counterparts from Britain last year, according to new CSO figures.
In its analysis of tourism statistics for last year, the CSO reveals that almost 8 million visitors came to Ireland last year, providing a total of €4.9 billion to the economy.
Fine Gael expressed concern that this figure was surpassed by the €6.1 billion spent by Irish residents taking some 7.7 million trips abroad last year – an increase of 13 per cent compared to 2006.
The figure includes some 4.5 million trips on continental European air routes, up almost one fifth on the year before.
The number of overseas visits by Irish residents on transatlantic routes increased by 14 per cent last year to 441,000.
The figures show that visitors from the Continent spent €1.4 billion during trips to Ireland. This is slightly more than the €1.388 billion spent by visitors from Britain.
Welcoming the figures, the recently appointed Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen said they demonstrated the “strong performance of Irish tourism last year”.
He acknowledged that this year was likely to be “more challenging” for Irish tourism, while stressing that he was confident that Irish tourism could continue its “upward curve.”
Fine Gael spokeswoman on tourism Olivia Mitchell expressed serious concern that the State is now earning “over a billion euro less” from tourism than Irish visitors abroad are spending.
“Irish tourism must watch its competitiveness and there is a need to develop smart tourism products, like activity-based and cultural packages,” she said.