Figures from the Central Statistics Office show visitors to Ireland from overseas are up 10pc for January-September 2016.
Revenue is up 9pc and holiday visits up 9pc. Inbound growth was up 12pc for the first six months of the year but the percentage growth dropped two percentage points in the third quarter when the majority of toruists arrive in Ireland.
The number of inbound tourists to Ireland is likely to rise from 8.435m in 2015 to 10.430m in 2016. British growth slowed to 11pc from 14.3pc and is likely to reach 4.98m. European growth slowed from 10.6pc to 9pc and is likely to reach 3.3m. North America slowed from 15.4pc to 10pc and is likely to reach a record 1.6m.
The average duration of overseas trips made by Irish residents decreased from 9.5 nights in Quarter 3 2015 to 9.4 nights in Quarter 3 2016. The number of trips made by Irish residents overseas is up 3pc in the quarter from 2.186m trips in Quarter 3 2015 to 2.253m.
Total tourism and travel expenditure by Irish residents overseas increased by 5.4pc, up from €1,680m in Quarter 3 2015 to €1,771m in Quarter 3 2016. When all fares are included, total expenditure on overseas trips increased by 6.4pc, from €2,096m to €2,231m.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “Today’s CSO figures confirm that overseas visitors to Ireland grew by +10pc during January-September, or almost 600,000 extra visitors. And, more importantly for the Irish economy, revenue from overseas visitors to Ireland grew by +9pc during this period, an additional €304m compared with the first nine months of 2015. Within the total number of overseas visitors to Ireland, holiday visitors grew by +9pc in the first nine months of 2016 – that’s 287,000 additional holiday visitors. I am pleased to see holidaymaker growth from our main market areas of Great Britain (+18pc), Mainland Europe (+6pc) and North America (+7pc). This was a strong performance and reflects the sentiment we’ve been hearing from our tourism industry partners, both overseas and here at home. We’ve just launched our marketing plans for 2017, which will see us build on this year’s growth to deliver €5.7bn (+4.5pc) in overseas tourism revenue to the economies north and south, by welcoming 10.6m visitors.”
