The tourism sector is bracing itself for one of the worst summers on record after travel data for the first month of the season showed a dramatic fall-off in visitor numbers to Ireland.
The industry has warned that total visitor numbers may be down by as much as a million 12.5 per cent in the whole year, with revenue down by as much as €75 billion.
The latest figures on overseas travel, published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today, show visits to Ireland fell by 18.4 per cent in May compared with the corresponding month last year.
Visits by residents of the country’s two main visitor markets, Britain and mainland Europe, recorded the biggest single-month declines on record.
Visitors from Britain were down 91,600 (22.8 per cent) to 306,400 compared with May 2008. The numbers travelling from other countries in Europe fell by 51,200 (20 per cent) to 219,300.
The figures show that visits from aboard have fallen by 9.6 per cent to 2,667,500 since the beginning of the year, more than reversing the growth recorded during the period in 2008.
The data also reveals Irish residents made just over 610,000 overseas trips in May, down nearly 10 per cent on the same month last year.
Overseas trips by Irish residents during the first five months of 2009 were down 10.4 per cent to 2,729,400.
The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) said though the numbers were "disappointing", they must be taken against the background of the "greatest global economic downturn in over 80 years".
"Travel and tourism is more exposed to economic conditions than any other business sector due to the discretionary nature of expenditure on non-essential goods. The steep downturn in the global economy is having a devastating impact on international tourism, and in the flow of visitors to Ireland," the body said.
ITIC chief executive Eamonn McKeon said it seemed likely visitor numbers for 2009 could drop by as much as 12.5 per cent over last year (a drop of one million visitors), with revenue down by as much as 15 per cent or more than €75 billion.
"Nevertheless that will produce an outcome of almost seven million overseas visitors and attendant revenue in excess of €4 billion," Mr McKeon said.
Fine Gael tourism spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell described the drop in visitor numbers as “nothing short of catastrophic”.
Ms Mitchell said: “The worst fears of all those working in the tourism industry have been realised, the summer season is a bust”.
She claimed Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen has repeatedly ignored the warning signs in recent months and “refused to put in place policies to aid Irish tourism”.
“Now, reports from the industry are that many of the businesses will be out of business in a matter of months,” she said.