Tourism Ireland chief executive Alice Mansergh said there was no “visible drop in [visitor] numbers” as a result of industrial action by pilots at Aer Lingus in a dispute over pay.
The dispute was resolved on Tuesday when pilots voted in favour of a 17.75 per cent pay rise over three and a half years. The dispute had resulted in the cancellaton of 610 flights, affecting about 86,000 passengers.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Ms Mansergh said there is a target revenue growth figure of 5.6 per cent this summer. Tourism revenue for 2023 was €6 billion.
In May, the State attracted 622,300 overseas visitors, a 8.5 per cent increase on the same time last year. Some 35 per cent of visitors came from Britain, 25 per cent from the United States and 7 per cent from Germany, according to the Central Statistics Office.
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Tourism Ireland is working on a strategy to increase the value of overseas tourism through revenue growth by attracting visitors who will spend more money in the economy.
As part of its plan, it has co-produced a show with British broadcaster Dermot O’Leary (whose parents are Irish) called Dermot’s Taste of Ireland. It aims to reach audiences in Britain and elsewhere to promote the State.
It comes as whiskey distilleries attracted more than 800,000 visitors across Ireland in the year to June. Tourism Ireland is marking 700 years of Ireland’s distilling heritage with a campaign targeting online audiences across 14 markets as the Irish Whiskey Association said the average spend of distillery visitors had been increasing.
The association said the age profile of visitors was skewing towards younger audiences and there was a greater gender balance among visitors to distillery experiences.
The main markets for Irish whiskey distillery visitors includes the United States, Britain, Germany, France alongside domestic visitors. Interest in Irish whiskey distilleries continues to grow, with a more than 20 per cent increase in online searches for “Irish Whiskey Tours” from key markets such as the US, Germany and Britain in 2024, according to Tourism Ireland.
Distillery visitor numbers show the growth of whiskey tourism and how distilleries play a role in supporting local economies, the director of the Irish Whiskey Association Eoin Ó Catháin said. Twenty-eight Irish whiskey visitor experiences have come together to form the IrishWhiskey360° island-wide trail launched by the industry group, a number that may yet grow.
According to the latest Irish spirits market report, global Irish whiskey sales rose by 8.6 per cent from 14 million cases in 2021 to 15.2 million cases in 2022.
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