We’re a popular wee place for tourists…
The tourism industry is booming in Ireland at the moment and 2016 has been hugely successful for the sector.
The January to August period this year has been the best ever January to August for tourists visiting Ireland.
During this time, 6.55 million people visited this country which is over a 12% increase on the same period last year. This is 718,600 more people visiting Ireland than during the same period in 2015.
That’s like… a lot of people.
According to Tourism Ireland, it was also the best ever month of August for Irish tourism with a staggering 1.125 million arrivals recorded.
We’ve had a large increase in visitors from North America in particular, with numbers up 15.4% on 2015 figures.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland said: “This was a strong performance and reflects the sentiment we are hearing from our travel partners overseas, including tour operators and carriers, as well as tourism businesses here at home.
“We are determined to ensure that tourism growth continues. Our extensive autumn campaign is in full swing – aimed at boosting late-season travel to Ireland from around the globe and keeping this momentum going.”
Tourism is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry; responsible for in excess of 4% of GNP in the Republic of Ireland and employing approximately 200,000 people.
In 2015, we welcomed 8.6 million oversees visitors to our shores and this year, with three months still to go, we’re well positioned to surpass that number.
Who wouldn’t want to come here?
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