Source: CSO

Overseas trips to Ireland tumbled by almost 600,000 in 2009 to date, compared with the same period last year.

The CSO said today that in the year to August 2009, there were 4,886,900 trips to Ireland which was 596,400 (10.9%) less than the same period in 2008. Foreign trips by Irish Residents also showed a similar decline, falling by 567,700 (10.3%) to 4,947,600 in the same period.

Irish Residents took 748,600 foreign trips in August 2009, which was 11.5% less than that recorded in August 2008.

There were 823,100 overseas trips to Ireland in August 2009, down 13% from August 2008. Visits by residents of Great Britain fell by nearly a quarter to 369,700 while those from Other Europe fell by just under 3% to 288,500. Visits by residents of North America were up by 7.1% to 126,600.

The CSO “Airport Pairings” database contains information of every direct flight in and out of the nine Irish airports on a monthly basis. Data is available from January 2006 to July 2009. For details please go here.

Ryanair said today it welcomed the CSO traffic figures as the Govt’s €10 tourist tax devastates Irish tourism, even during the summer peak.  Ryanair’s August traffic grew by 19%, over 1.1m new passengers, which disproves the Govt’s false claim that this decline is due to the recession.

This of course isn't economics and Ryanir is comparing Irish traffic with European traffic.

Every vested interest in Ireland is pleading its case but how about an estimate from Ryanair of the impact of the recession? 

Ryanair warned that unless the Irish Government’s €10 tourist tax is scrapped, then the fall in Irish visitor numbers will worsen during winter, as more flights, routes and services are cut from the Government’s high cost Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports.

 Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: "CSO figures show a 13% drop in visitor numbers in August and 11% for the year to date.  The loss of 600,000 visitors so far this year confirms that the collapse in Irish tourism is accelerating as the €10 tourist tax makes Ireland an uncompetitive tourist destination.

“In recent months the Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish governments have all scrapped tourist taxes and/or reduced airport charges, in some cases to zero, in order to stimulate tourism. Ryanair has expanded in these countries including our recent announcement of 43 new routes to/from Spain this winter.  The Irish Government cannot grow Irish tourism by taxing it.  We must axe this stupid €10 tourist tax and start welcoming visitors, not taxing them”.