Tourism Ireland welcomes 9% growth in spend by overseas visitors
New figures released by the CSO have shown that there was a 9% growth in spend by overseas visitors and 9% growth in holiday visitors in 2016.
The figures confirm that there was an additional €360 million in revenue from overseas visitors compared to 2015.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: "Today’s CSO figures are really strong.
"Total overseas visitor numbers increased by +9%; and holiday visitors also grew by +9% during 2016 – 342,000 additional holiday visitors."
In 2016, the island of Ireland welcomed approximately 19.37 million overseas visitors, delivering revenue of about €5.4 billion.
Mr Gibbons added that the focus was now on 2017.
"Our aim is to grow overseas tourism revenue this year by +4.5%, to €5.7 billion, for the island of Ireland.
"Our promotions received a tremendous boost last week, with our Global Greening initiative for St Patrick’s Day, which was bigger and better than ever before.
"St Patrick’s Day traditionally marks the real start of the tourism season for us and we took every opportunity to capitalise on Ireland’s heightened profile."
Mr Gibbons said Tourism Ireland plans to create a 'stand out' Ireland around the globe in 2017, highlighting "iconic experiences" like the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East and Titanic Belfast.
"We will also promote Dublin and Belfast, in particular for shoulder and off-peak travel.
"Screen tourism will remain a priority, as we continue to capitalise on our connections with Star Wars and Game of Thrones."
