Irish Trips Overseas Up Almost 87,000

The new figures showed that there were 764,400 overseas trips made by Irish Residents in June 2007 compared with 677,800 in June 2006, an increase of 86,600.

The CSO's report also showed that 772,200 people travelled to Ireland in June, compared with 750,500 twelve months earlier, an increase of 21,700.

The figures published by the CSO show that visitors from mainland Europe for the first six months of the year are up by almost 15% compared to 2006; visitors from North America were up by 3% and visitors from other long-haul routes were up by over 4%.

While visitor numbers from Britain are down 2.9% for the first six months of the year, figures for May and June show some recovery in this market. The British market has been pressured by high interest rates, less disposable income and, of course severe weather conditions.

It remains to be seen whether the severe weather in Great Britain during July and August will impact on the numbers coming to Ireland during these months.

Séamus Brennan, T.D., Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, expressed his satisfaction with these new figures, saying that, "Despite the challenges of global economic anxiety and poor weather, the figures published today show that the number of overseas visitors to Ireland has increased by over 3% for the first half of the year compared to the corresponding period in 2006."

Minister Brennan continued: "Last year broke all records in terms of overseas visitor numbers and associated revenue and it was always going to be challenging to maintain this upward momentum. I am delighted the figures published today show that we have been successful in this regard.

"The data published today is welcome news for the tourism industry. Despite concerns expressed in recent times, the data shows that we are holding our own in the international tourism market. I am particularly pleased to note that the Mainland European market is putting in a strong performance, with an increase of almost 15% on the first half of the year.

"This market is of rapidly growing importance for Irish tourism and associated tourism revenue from this source is now on par with that from Great Britain.

"I would like to pay tribute to those in the tourism sector and the tourism agencies for ensuring this continued success," he concluded.

The CSO figures show that over 3.6 million visitors came to Ireland during the period January to June 2007, including over 1.8 million from Britain and almost half a million from North America.