Ireland welcomes record 7.8m visitors in 2007

Gillian Bowler, Chairman of Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism development authority, said today that the Irish tourism industry welcomed a record 7.8 million visitors last year, five per cent more than in 2006 and as such outperformed its main Northern European competitors. Speaking at Fáilte Ireland’s End of Year Review and Outlook for 2008, Ms Bowler said: “For the sixth consecutive year Irish tourism has grown and it has been generally a very good year for Ireland in terms of total visitors. Overseas earnings were also up, although the rate of revenue growth, at five per cent, was less than expected and just kept pace with inflation. Overall, many parts of Ireland benefited from the growth in visitor numbers, with most regions experiencing growth. However, the picture between regions remains quite variable with urban centres tending to benefit most. As for the coming season, the early indications from our latest research points to considerable optimism within the industry with 90% of tourism operators surveyed maintaining that the coming year will be at least as good as 2007. However given the unpredictable nature of a number of key factors including the weakness of the dollar, oil prices and financial markets, the level of growth for 2008 is difficult to assess.

2007 performance

With an increase of five per cent in overseas visitors to Ireland in 2007, last year was a sixth consecutive year of growth and a record year for Irish tourism in terms of total visitors and earnings. Tourism revenues in 2007 increased to €6.5billion. Tourism is Ireland’s most important indigenous industry, accounting for almost four per cent of GNP annually.
 
The sharp and sustained expansion of the domestic market over recent years continued in 2007 with growth in the number of holiday trips and associated expenditure of 12% and 20%, respectively. Expenditure by Irish people holidaying at home is now estimated to be at least €1 billion.
The reliance on the home holiday market by some sectors of the industry outside of Dublin remains a cause of concern. The number of nights spent in hotels by Irish people increased by 26% in 2007 and accounted for 62% of total nights spent in hotels by all tourists. Fáilte Ireland will continue to grow the domestic market while working in close collaboration with the tourism industry and Tourism Ireland on driving growth in the international leisure segment to reduce this reliance.”
 
Mainland Europe produced the strongest growth in overseas visitors with significant increases from France, Spain and the Nordic countries, and good growth from Italy, Germany and Switzerland. The emerging markets in Eastern and Central Europe continue to generate significant increases. More modest growth came from North America and the other long haul markets while visitor numbers from Britain were slightly down on last year. Visitor spend in 2007 was slightly weaker than the growth in visitors due primarily to the impact of a shortening length of stay amongst mainland European visitors (from 12 to 10 days) and the effect of the weakening dollar on US visitor spend.
 
Visitor satisfaction levels with their holiday in Ireland remained high in 2007 – for 93% their holiday either exceeded or matched their expectations and 98% said they would recommend a holiday in Ireland. Their satisfaction with specific elements of their holiday here was very consistent:

• beautiful scenery (90%)
• friendly people (86%)
• natural, unspoilt environment (80%)
• safety and security (78%)

Tourism across the Regions

The overall increase in overseas visitor numbers is apparent at the regional level although some regions benefited significantly more than others.  The North West and South East regions enjoyed above average growth. Dublin, the West and South West also increased their overseas visitor numbers. The performance in East and Midlands was on a par with 2006 while the Shannon region experienced a decline following an exceptionally strong performance in 2006.

Commenting at the Annual Review and Outlook for 2008, Shaun Quinn, Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland said: “The spatial development of tourism across all regions continues to be a key priority for Fáilte Ireland. While we are happy with the increased visitor numbers to the majority of the regions it should be still remembered that not all regions are benefiting to the same degree. We are continuing to invest significantly in upgrading and expanding the range of tourist attractions and activities across regions to broaden visitor appeal. New regional tourism strategies provide a road map setting out how all of the industry, including both the public and private sectors, can most effectively contribute to the further development of sustainable and economically beneficial tourism in each region.” 
 

Accommodation Performance

According to the latest Fáilte Ireland tourism research, in 2007 there was an improved performance in most accommodation sectors with 56% of hotel managers and half of guesthouse operators reporting an increase in overall business on 2006. Whereas a majority in all accommodation sectors report business either up or on a par with 2006, B&Bs and hostels do report business down on last year on balance.
 
During 2007, 87 new hotels opened throughout the country, contributing to an increase in hotel bedrooms to over 57,000. Since 2006, there has been a 28% increase in the number of hotel bedrooms registered with Fáilte Ireland.
 
2007 brought a new mandatory classification system for hotels and guesthouses in Ireland developed by Fáilte Ireland in conjunction with the Irish Hotels Federation. Designed to help the consumer choose the most suitable establishment for their needs, the new system provides the user with a classification for over 900 hotels and for 400 guesthouses. It also awards percentage points to each of the premises in the two to four star categories, based on the extent to which they provide facilities and services over and above the essential requirements to achieve classification at the particular grade. This classification scheme was introduced into hotels during the latter part of 2007. Full details of the star rating and the percentages awarded are available on Fáilte Ireland’s website www.discoverireland.ie. 
 

Leisure Activities and Attractions

“Improving the quality and range of our tourist attractions and activities is of fundamental importance to the longer term development of tourism in Ireland,” said Shaun Quinn. “Fáilte Ireland has consistently highlighted the need to improve and develop the activities and attractions for our visitors. We need to ensure that we continually improve and enhance the experience of the 10 million visitors that we are targeting by 2010.”
 
“Since we launched our Tourism Product Development Strategy some months ago we have invested over €11m in 130 different projects. We will invest a further €15.2m of NDP funding during 2008 and by 2013 our investment will total €137m,” concluded Mr Quinn.
 
The activity sectors continued to build on the strong performance in 2006 with significant growth in the numbers of overseas visitors engaging in all of the main activity products, hiking/walking, golf, equestrian pursuits, cycling and angling. The numbers engaging in historical and cultural visits increased in line with the overall increase in holiday visitors. A majority of operators indicated that business was either up or on a par with 2006 and they remain optimistic regarding continuing growth overall in 2008.
 
In 2007 over 50 new walks were constructed and marked and have been uploaded on the Fáilte Ireland website with downloadable maps. These walks have been developed with the assistance of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. In addition, this programme has upgraded approximately half of the 33 Waymarked Ways.
 
As part of the new cycling strategy a number of hub towns have been created with the support of local authorities and the assistance of NDP Infrastructure Grants. Work is currently underway in developing day and half day signed looped routes in a number of centres around the country. It is expected that hubs in Donegal, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Wicklow, Westmeath, Cork and Wexford will be opened during 2008.
 
Highlights in the 2007 sports tourism calendar included the inaugural Tour of Ireland cycle race and Rally Ireland. The Tour of Ireland raced through 12 counties and provided an excellent opportunity to showcase the countryside to a large international television audience.
This event is expected to remain on the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) World Calendar in 2008. In November, Rally Ireland hosted a round of the World Rally Championships in the North West. Worth €46 million to the Irish economy, the event attracted 150,000 spectators with 1.3 million television viewers tuning in worldwide. It was also confirmed that Ireland will host the first rally of the 2009 World Rally Championship in February 2009.
 

Business Tourism

The very high growth potential for Ireland in the business tourism sector is beyond doubt. Even in the absence of a dedicated National Conference Centre, Ireland has been successful in attracting international conferences. A significant portion of the expected growth in business tourism can be attributed to the recent decisions in relation to the National Conference Centre and VAT deductibility on accommodation expenses.
 
The Business Tourism sector received a major boost during the year with the Government’s decision to award Spencer Dock Development Company the contract for building and operating the new National Convention Centre. Scheduled to open for business in September 2010, the new centre will provide Ireland with one of the best venues in Europe and open new lucrative opportunities for business tourism development. The focus of attention within Dublin now relates to ensuring that there is adequate and convenient accommodation capacity to support the business tourist as much of the new hotel development scheduled is tending towards locations outside of the city centre. Facilities of sufficient size and convenient access to cater for large dining events are also required.
 
Elsewhere, there has been some progress towards developing a large conference facility in Cork city, where there is potential for significant growth. Fáilte Ireland is also conducting a feasibility study of the merits of a similar development in the Shannon region.
 

Industry Concerns

Fáilte Ireland has recently completed research with a number of opinion leaders in the tourism industry to examine the issues that are of most concern to them. Some of the key areas that were identified as being of most concern were competitiveness, the environment and regionalisation.
 
“Ireland’s competitiveness against its low cost European competitors was one of the key issues for the industry”, said Gillian Bowler. “While the relatively low cost of air access to Ireland can be seen to some extent to counteract the cost of holidaying ‘on the ground’, low-cost air travel is not unique to Ireland with many of the emerging markets accessible by continental Europeans via land travel.  By continuing to invest in the quality and range of our attractions and activities we can offer a total high-quality holiday experience which should make people feel – with some justification – that they have got value for their money. It goes without saying that, in parallel we must make every effort to contain our costs.”
 
Fáilte Ireland has adopted a pro-environmental position on issues relating to planning, climate change and water quality. We have identified the physical environment including our scenic landscapes, historic towns, unique coastline, river and lakes as a core tourism product. Ireland has successfully traded on its clean green image in recent times and ensuring this image remains credible is of the utmost importance.
 
Fáilte Ireland will continue to work with its industry partners including relevant state agencies to put in place a series of measures to preserve, maintain and improve our core tourism asset – our physical environment.
 
The regional spread of tourism continues to be an issue for the tourism industry. Through its regional structures and through partners such as Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland has put measures in place to increase tourism throughout the regions. Projects such as Family Fun in the South East, Adventure in the South West and the Lakelands and Inland Waterways Initiative should help this process.
 

Outlook for 2008

At this stage, the prospects for the coming season appear relatively good. Within the industry there is considerable optimism about the 2008 season with 90% of operators surveyed recently by Fáilte Ireland saying that they expected 2008 to be at least on a par with or better than the 2007 season. The hotel sector remains the most optimistic.
 
In terms of air and sea access there are also positive indicators going into 2008 with increases in both air services and ferry services into Ireland and overall capacity by air increasing by 15% and available car spaces on ferries to the island increasing by two per cent.

Available seat capacity on US to Ireland air routes is increasing by 25% with 21 more departures per week while capacity on routes between Europe and Ireland is up by seven per cent. Cross channel air capacity on London routes is increased by 14% while seats on provincial routes are up 15% resulting in an overall increase on cross channel air routes of 15%.
 
The Government’s overseas marketing effort will also be at a record high in 2008 with its Tourism Marketing Fund amounting to €50 million.
 
The impact of exchange rates on US travel to Europe is difficult to gauge at this stage. Latest CSO data would indicate some softening in revenues from US visitors over the latter half of 2007.
 
The targeted growth for overseas visitors to Ireland in 2008 is five per cent which, if achieved, would bring total visits to almost 8.2 million. Total foreign exchange earnings from out-of-state tourism would reach €5.5 billion as a result. On the domestic front, home holiday trips are targeted to increase by almost four per cent to 4.5 million generating almost €1.1 billion.
 
Gillian Bowler said: “Meeting these targets would represent a significant achievement for the industry which has grown consistently over the past six years and has achieved its visitor targets. Continuing the spectacular levels of growth from the domestic market is much more challenging in the present economic climate, while, internationally, the weakness of the dollar, rising energy costs and economic uncertainty generally all make for a more difficult forecasting environment.”
 
ENDS
 
For further information contact:
 
Fáilte Ireland                                                         01 8847700
Mary Cosgrave                                                      087 226 0411
Louise Tolerton                                                      086 608  6578
 
Murray Consultants                                                01 498 0300
James Dunny                                                        086 388 3903
Aoibheann O’Sullivan                                             087 629 1453

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