Source: Markit

Trips to Ireland by overseas residents for January 2010 were down 26% to 313,800 from January 2009, an overall decrease of 110,400, according to the Central Statistics Office..

Visitors from Great Britain were down by 31.6% to 142,400 while trips to Ireland by residents of other Europe and North America decreased by 29.7% and 2.2% respectively. Trips from residents of other areas rose by 4.2%.  The largest decreases from overseas visitors to Ireland were Great Britain (-65,900), Poland (-7,800), France (-7,000), Italy (-5,700) and Germany (-5,200).

Irish residents made 448,900 overseas trips in January 2010; this was 10.6% lower than the number that travelled in January 2009. The CSO “Airport Pairings” database contains information on every direct flight in and out of the nine Irish airports on a monthly basis. Data is available from January 2006 to January 2010.

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Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “We are very much aware that the first quarter of 2010 has been extremely difficult and today’s CSO figures for January reflect the impact on Ireland and on tourism businesses across the island.

“The month of January accounts for approximately 6% of overall visitors each year. The extreme/treacherous weather conditions experienced in GB and across mainland Europe at the beginning of the year, which resulted in widespread airport closures and led authorities to discourage all unnecessary travel, have certainly impacted on visitor numbers.

“Tourism Ireland has a comprehensive promotional programme under way right now around the world to restore overseas tourism to growth this year. A range of campaigns are highlighting the great value on offer as well as compelling reasons to visit. The message is that there has never been a better time to visit the island of Ireland.”

Ryanair called on the Government to axe the €10 tourist tax after 4m fewer passengers (a slump of 13%) travelled through Irish Airports in the first 12 months of the tax.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “The first 12 months of the Government’s €10 tourist tax shows that while Irish traffic collapsed by over 4million passengers Ireland’s biggest airline, Ryanair, grew by more than 7million. The Irish Govt’s €10 tourist tax continues to damage Irish tourism while Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Holland and Spain return to growth having scrapped tourist taxes and/or reduced airport charges, in some cases to zero.

“Ireland cannot grow tourism by taxing tourists and raising airport charges. The Govt should ‘axe the tax’ and slash the DAA’s high charges as a matter of urgency before even more damage is done to Ireland’s vital tourism industry by this Government’s €10 tourist tax”.

There has been a severe recession in many countries and what the impact of the equivalent cost of 2 pints of Guinness may be, is a matter for conjecture.