New figures released by the CSO show the number of tourists visiting Ireland plunged by 30% last month compared with the same month last year. Industry chiefs are saying that Ireland may be heading towards a crisis point. Travel and aviation journalist at TravelExtra.
ie Eoghan Corry told The Anton Savage Show that it is hard to tell what exactly is causing the downturn. “The figures are not pretty; 30% down year-on-year - and that’s 43% from pre-pandemic,” he said. “Now, if you square that off with the airport numbers, the Dublin passenger cap has impacted Dublin.
"But really it was flat, it didn’t come down, the number didn’t come down by anything that resembles that. “So, it does look like there’s an awful lot of other factors.” Mr Corry said he would expect Belfast airport to have seen about a six per cent growth out of diversions from Dublin.
He said that while all markets have dropped since the COVID-19 pandemic, the fall in America’s stock market is particularly concerning. “America is down by 35% [year-on-year], and 88% since pre-pandemic,” he said. “Germany is down 18% and France is down 29%, but America is the big spender; they saved our last two summers.
” According to Mr Corry, if this loss of inbound visitors continues into the summer, we may see less tourists come to the country than we did in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He warned that tourism trends could be undergoing a “major seismic shift” and that Ireland .
