Post-Brexit sterling drop prompts fall in UK visitors to Ireland

There has been a substantial drop in the number of UK visitors to Ireland this year as the post-Brexit fall in sterling has made it more expensive to travel.

Between February and April, the number of all overseas trips to Ireland from abroad has increased slightly by 0.1 per cent, or an overall increase of about 2,600 arrivals.

However, the number of people arriving from the UK plummeted by almost 11 per cent from 958,100 to 855,800.

The decline will be of concern given that UK residents represent by far the largest contingent of overseas visitors. For the same three-month period last year there were 673,300 more visitors from the UK than from the second highest point of origin, north America.

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"The decline in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors," said Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland which markets the country overseas.

“And economic uncertainty is undoubtedly making British travellers more cautious about their discretionary spending.”

Cost of travel

The numbers, released on Thursday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), represent the first dip in UK travel numbers which have been climbing sharply in the last three years following an emergence from economic uncertainty.

UK trips over the same period rose from 735,800 in 2014 to 808,000 the following year before peaking in 2016.

While the CSO data is purely statistical, offering no insights into what lies behind the trends, the cost of European travel for UK residents has increased substantially since voting to leave the EU. Conversely, travel into the UK from countries with the euro has become more affordable.

Trips to Ireland by residents of European countries, excluding the UK, have increased by 2.2 per cent, rising to 741,800.

The sharp decline in travel from UK residents is not repeated from other global points of origin.

Those arriving from France, Germany, Spain and Nordic countries all rose while there were marginal declines from Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Italy.

North American tourists

Notably, trips by residents of North America increased by 25.7 per cent to 357,900. As an indicator of improvement in economic conditions here, the number of overseas trips made by Irish residents increased by 12 per cent to just over 1.7 million.

Tourism Ireland said it is now placing a greater emphasis on “culturally curious” travellers, less impacted by currency fluctuations.

“We will continue to monitor developments around Brexit closely, to better understand and plan for its implications,” Mr Gibbons said.

Paul Kelly, chief executive of Fáilte Ireland, said while Europe and America are performing well, "the drop in the British market is now very obvious and should prompt concern – even at this early stage of the year".

Fáilte Ireland is developing a Brexit response programme focusing in particular on immediate potential in the European market.