IT WAS ANOTHER strong summer for Irish tourism, with visitors numbers up 9.7% for the summer months compared to last year.

Figures published today by the CSO also show that 2,180,700 managed to get away for our holliers between June and August, up 1.9%.

Minister for Tourism Paschal Donohoe noted in particular the figures for visitors from North America, up just more than 13% compared to last year which itself was a record year.

However, he warned that Government must not become complacent, and must continue to improve Ireland’s reputation abroad as a tourism destination.

The surge in visitors from all areas (except Poland, Switzerland, and Africa) is something which Fáilte Ireland boss Shaun Quinn believes is being felt on the ground.

“[Our] own research is telling us that this growth is impacting favourably across all sectors of tourism with many experiencing levels of business they haven’t enjoyed for many years,” he said.

This growth has been helped by economic recovery in some of our key markets overseas but crucially, whether it is new initiatives like the Wild Atlantic Way or the variety of festivals and events around the country, Ireland is providing a very attractive offer to the overseas traveller.

Trips by North America travellers to Ireland increased by 18.0% to 516,700 while trips by residents of Great Britain increased by 3.5% to 910,500.

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