The CSO released the figures for the first 11 months of the year stating the visitor number in Ireland in 2017 to set another record.
Till the end of November 2017 around 9.25 million visited the Republic showing a 3.7 per cent increase on the similar period in 2016.
But the visitor numbers from Britain continued to decline by 5.2 per cent period between January to November.
The island over the full year will bring 10.65 million visitors and fetch a revenue of €5.78 billion. A new target revenue of €6 billion has been set by the all-Ireland tourism authority for the year 2018.
By targeting the “culturally curious” market in the UK which is less sensitive to the drop in the value of Sterling since the start of Brexit, it intends to handle the decline in British visitors.
Tourism Ireland mentioned that it is pursuing a policy of diversification with increased focus on long stay, high spending visitors from North America.
Tourism numbers from North America were facing their fifth successive year for record highs. Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said the results from North America were “exceptional” with almost two million visitors and an increase in 16.6 per cent from January to November last year.
The growth in visitor numbers from Australia and developing markets which were up 13.1 per cent while for mainland Europe it was 5.5 per cent. Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Nordic region all showed strong growth.
Tags: Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland
