Too early to call British tourist market, says ferry group boss

The chief executive of ferry operator Irish Continental Group, has said it is too soon to predict how the British tourist market will perform this year.

Earlier this week, the Central Statistics Office published figures showing that the number of visitors from Britain fell by 2 per cent to 238,000 in the February to April period, despite an increase tourists from Europe and North America.

However, Eamonn Rothwell, who was speaking after the group’s annual general meeting in Dublin, said it was too early to say with any certainty how many tourists were ultimately likely to arrive here from Britain this year.

“It’s still all to play for,” he said. “I would not call the British market at this stage.” However, he acknowledged the British economy was also going through a difficult period.

The ferry group recently issued a trading statement showing that revenues rose to €72.1 million in the first four months of the year, from €70.4 million in the same period of 2012. Car and passenger figures fell 5.5 and 1.5 per cent so far in the year, as an early Easter affected traffic.

Irish Continental Group operates car and passenger ferry and freight services from Dublin and Belfast to Britain and Europe.