OVERSEAS TRIPS TO IRELAND INCREASE BY 8% IN 2011

Recent CSO figures confirmed that Irish tourism returned to growth in 2011. 6,505 million people visited Ireland last year, an increase of 468 million over 2010. While this is very welcome news, visitor numbers remain at 2004 levels.
Between 2000-2010, international visitor arrivals grew from 675 million to 940 million. During this period, average annual growth was 3.4 %, with emerging markets (5.6%) strongly outpacing advanced economies (1.8%).
The pattern of visitor arrivals to Ireland over the same period has been much more modest as the following CSO figures indicate -

• 2000 6,293m
• 2001 5,990m
• 2002 6,065m
• 2003 6,369m
• 2004 6,574m
• 2005 6,977m
• 2006 7,709m
• 2007 8,012m
• 2008 7,839m
• 2009 6,927m
• 2010 6,037m

According to the World Tourism Organisation, international tourist arrivals are set to almost double to 1.8billion by 2030. In a European context, international tourist arrivals are set to increase by 240 million by 2020 or an additional 355 million within 18 years. This represents an enormous opportunity for Ireland., but to avail of it, a new strategic plan for tourism should to be developed as a matter of urgency. Given the fragmentation of the industry, this should be led by government. I suggest that a replica of the strategy adopted by government for the technology sector back in 1998 would be a good place to start.