CSO Data Shows Increase in Overseas Visitors for Early 2018

27 March 2018

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The CSO has today released tourism data for the first two months of 2018

The data shows that the number of overseas visits to Ireland for the first two months of 2018 increased by 7.9%, compared to the corresponding period in 2017.

A breakdown of today’s data shows that visits from Mainland Europe were up by 17.6%, compared to the same period last year, while visits from North America and Britain were up by 4.2% and 4% respectively. Visits from the rest of the world (long-haul) were down by 3.8%.

Commenting on today’s CSO data, Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly said:

“Today we have another set of robust figures which reflect the strength of the tourism sector, but obviously it is too early in the year to draw hard and fast conclusions from the data we have to date. In Fáilte Ireland, we still anticipate that the British market may be down this year. We are working with hundreds of businesses across the country through our ‘Get Brexit Ready Programme’ to prepare for further consequences from the Brexit effect, and to minimise any exposure to our nearest overseas market. Fáilte Ireland is particularly helping businesses to diversify into other markets and to ensure their customer mix is balanced. Indeed we saw the first businesses who participated in the Fáilte Ireland ‘China Ready Programme’ graduate this week.

“Tourism sustains 235,000 jobs and generates revenue of €6.7bn, of which an estimated €1.6bn goes to the Exchequer. The key to maintaining this vital contribution to the Irish economy, and safeguarding it from fluctuations in overseas markets, is to build a compelling visitor experience which can compete globally.”


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CSO Overseas visitor numbers January-February 2018

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