The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) has urged the Government to take action to aid the domestic and inbound travel and tourism sector, saying this week’s CSO tourism figures show a real need for action in the October budget.
This week’s latest CSO figures showed a 6% year-on-year drop in visitor spend, in June, and a 2% drop in visitor numbers.
Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, CEO of ITIC, said: “Irish tourism and hospitality businesses continue to have a mixed season. June numbers represent the beginning of the summer period and although North American business is performing well, other markets are soft. Cost of business pressures and capacity constraints continue to hamper the industry and we hope that these are addressed on Budget Day. With unprecedented macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty now is the time to support a key home-grown indigenous industry such as tourism”.
