Inbound Tourism Sentiment Muted Despite Increase in Visitor Numbers

Sentiment amongst Irish inbound and domestic tourism companies remains downbeat despite latest figures showing growth in visitor numbers during the summer months.

Latest indicators from the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) show that 51% of Irish inbound tourism businesses are currently unhappy, with just 24% happy and 25% floating somewhere in between.

Updated CSO figures show that 676,300 people visited Ireland in July – 5% up on the same month last year.

Britain and Mainland Europe were the joint leading visitor source market last month; both counting for 32% of all visitors; followed by North America (30%) and Rest of the World (6%).

The latest data shows a slight drop in the duration of visitor stay, at 7.6 nights on average. But in the year to date, overnight visits are up 13% at 3.9 million.

Visitor spend was also up 9%, year-on-year, in July, at €681m.