Tourist visitors hoped to reach record 8.2m in 2016

Tourism interests are hoping 2016 will deliver another bumper year, with visitor numbers rising to a record 8.2 million and revenue swelling to €4.4 billion.

This is on the back of Central Statistics Office figures that show major growth in the industry over the last five years.

Tourism Ireland is hoping to replicate the branding success of the Wild Atlantic Way, with a campaign targeting “Ireland’s Ancient East”.

It is also hoping the release of Star Wars: the Force Awakens, which will feature Skellig Michael off the Co Kerry coast, will arouse interest in Ireland among a new generation of younger American tourists.

Dublin is to be promoted with a campaign entitled Dublin – a Breath of Fresh Air.

The programme seeks to build on something of a “perfect storm” in the hospitality industry, according to Stephen McNally, president of the Irish Hotels Federation. After five years of little refurbishment in hotels, he said new investment was currently seeing more than 700 bedrooms refurbished in Dublin alone. There was also a more favourable exchange rate for visitors from the US and Britain.

He rejected claims of “price gouging” in relation to inflation in hotel prices. Such claims were made at the time of the recent Web Summit in Dublin.

While last-minute hotel prices could be expensive, “on the Wednesday of the Web Summit the average price of a hotel room was €155”.

He said the average price on Wednesdays in summer could also be at that level, while in winter the average price could be as low as €110.