Ireland needs to diversify its tourism offering to regain competitiveness in Europe, the CEO of the Irish tourism Industry Confederation, Eoghan O’Mara Walsh has said.
CSO figures and an industry sentiment survey suggests the Irish tourism sector has seen an 18pc decline in overseas tourists from January to April in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Revenues from English, French, and German tourists have dropped significantly, showcasing economic pressures on these markets.
Mr Walsh urges the need to ensure Dublin Airport can manage more than 32m passengers to attract more international visitors.
He calls for increased support for regional airports to incentivise airlines to connect with smaller markets in the country.
Eoghan O’Mara Walsh shared, “Ireland must diversify its tourism market to counter drop in visitor numbers. I think we need to defend and deepen the US market because we can’t just turn our back on our most valuable market. If we want to activate and we want to secure access to our key source markets, we need headroom at Dublin Airport. Government have had an awful lot of time to debate it and tease it out and we’re still at the same stage as we have been for a long time. I think Government could be doing more in terms of supporting some of the spend at those airports.”
