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Ireland sees record-breaking year for tourism in 2016

Xinhua, January 28, 2017 Adjust font size:

The year 2016 was a record-breaking year for overseas tourism to Ireland, with almost 9.6 million people arriving here, an increase of 10.9 percent when compared with 2015, according to official figures on Friday.

The figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that the increase was recorded from all of Irish tourism markets around the world, with exceptional results from North America.

North America registered an increase of 19.4 percent for 2016, according to the CSO figures.

Ireland has also seen record numbers arriving from mainland Europe, an increase of 8.5 percent when compared with 2015. The country also welcomed the continued strong performance from Britain, the largest market for Ireland's overseas tourism, up 10.6 percent.

Currently, Ireland is acutely aware of the challenges facing tourism not least of which is Brexit, saying that the British market is set to be challenging in the near future, particularly given the weakening of sterling.

Ireland says it will create "stand out" for the emerald isle around the world throughout 2017, highlighting iconic experiences like the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's Ancient East, Titanic Belfast and the Causeway Coastal Route.

The country aims to grow overseas tourism revenue in 2017 by 4.5 percent to 5.7 billion euros. (5.7 euros=6.09 U.S. dollars) Endit