Overseas tourism to Ireland this year is expected to equate to approximately 75% of 2019 levels after international travel rebounded more quickly than anticipated, Tourism Ireland has said.
The Irish tourism promotion organisation said pent-up demand, deferred bookings and accumulated savings had led to a surge in travel to Ireland, with air travel capacity this winter set to exceeded the same period in 2019 (102%).
Ireland welcomed 11.3m overseas visitor who spent of €5.9bn in the Irish economy in 2019.
Tourism Ireland will host over 100 tourism companies from Ireland at its stand at the World Travel Market in London this week, marking the beginning of its promotional drive to attract overseas visitors next year.
The World Travel Market is the largest B2B event in the global travel and tourism calendar and presents a unique opportunity for the travel industry to negotiate and conduct business for 2023.
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"In 2022, our priority was to restart overseas tourism to the island of Ireland, so it’s encouraging to see that the year is expected to finish at around 75% of 2019 business," said Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland.
“As we look now to 2023, our research confirms that the desire to travel is stronger than ever – so our presence at World Travel Market is more important than ever. The record number of tourism companies from Ireland attending this year is extremely welcome and essential in the highly competitive international marketplace.
"As we enter the REBUILD phase of our strategy for overseas tourism, our aim is to stand out from the crowd and to capture the attention of the global media and travel professionals at WTM.”
Tourism Ireland has undertaken an extensive programme of promotions this year as part of Restart phase of its plan to encourage tourism post-Covid, with two more phases to follow: Rebuild and Redesign.
The organisation also said that tourism businesses were being challenged by labour shortfalls, currency fluctuations and the rising cost of doing business, although the desire to travel remains as strong as ever, according to research carried out in 10 markets.
The research also shows that seven out of 10 people who want to travel in 2023 are still in the planning stages, meaning there is still a good opportunity to influence their choice of destination.
"After an extremely challenging couple of years for the industry, international travel to Ireland has rebounded strongly in 2022 and I must commend Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and all our tourism partners for their concerted efforts in this regard," said Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin.
"World Travel Market marks the beginning of the promotional drive for 2023 and it provides an excellent platform to highlight Ireland’s world-class tourism experience to international tour operators.
"It’s great to see over one hundred tourism enterprises from all across the island, conducting business meetings and doing such a great job of selling Irish tourism to the global travel trade and supporting sustainable growth in the sector.”
(Pic: Getty Images)
