The number of foreign tourists who visited Ireland during the first quarter of this year remained 16% lower than the same period in 2019, according to data collected by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC).
The data showed that 1.7 million people traveled to Ireland from other countries between January and March. However, the ITIC is concerned about the rising costs and limited availability of accommodations and rental cars. In addition, over one-third of tourism accommodations in regional areas across the country are currently being used by the government to house Ukrainian refugees and international protection applicants. The ITIC is requesting a support fund to assist non-accommodation tourism companies that are affected by these government contracts.
“The number of tourism beds no longer available to the tourism economy is of great concern,” said Elaina Fitzgerald Kane, Chairperson of ITIC.
“There will be tourism towns up and down the country with a shortage of tourism beds and therefore with very little tourism activity.”
According to Fáilte Ireland’s estimates, the government’s use of tourism beds to accommodate refugees and asylum-seekers could result in a €1.1 billion loss to the tourism economy this year.
“Downstream tourism businesses such as attractions, cultural experiences, inbound operators, restaurants and vintners will be the ones to suffer,” said Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, CEO of ITIC.
In association with AIB, the ITIC has provided preliminary estimates of the first quarter’s inbound tourism performance, indicating that the US and European markets are performing well. However, the British market is “soft” and long-haul markets are still behind, according to the report. Despite being traditionally less busy, the first three months of the year contribute to 20% of the total tourism volume annually. The data used to produce this report was based on the inbound visitor numbers recorded by ports and carriers.
