Monthly tourism reports urged

TOURISM IRELAND has urged the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to start providing tourism statistics on a monthly basis again – describing the data as the industry’s most important performance indicator.

The CSO said it had been forced to curtail the frequency at which it provides the figures for the troubled sector because of restrictions on staff recruitment. It is now calculating the data – which tracks the number of visits made to and from the State – on a quarterly basis.

The most recent figures, covering the period to the end of June, showed that during that time some 2.6 million people had visited Ireland, down from 3.3 million in the same period last year.

The June figures suggested the industry may be beginning to stabilise with a fall in visitors of 5.7 per cent compared to 30 and 25 per cent in April and May respectively. However, figures for the busiest period for tourism – July and August – will not be published until November.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said he had written to the CSO in order to assess ways in which reliable and timely data can now be provided. “The monthly release by the CSO of overseas travel results was the most important performance indicator for the tourism industry,” he said. “We understand that this decision is motivated by issues of coverage and reliability, and we fully appreciate the CSO’s commitment to the professional provision of quality information. However, we urge the restoration of monthly reporting levels.”