Tourism sector has played a crucial role in recovery
By Mary Dennehy
PLANS to position South Dublin County as a tourist destination could well pay off after recent figures revealed that Dublin has seen an increase in annual overseas visitor numbers of nearly 2.3 million since 2010.
In recent times, South Dublin County Council has been working towards marketing the region’s assets to tourists – with the local authority packaging and promoting the area’s mountains, waterways, historical villages, retail centres, hotels, award-winning parks, sporting facilities, cinemas, restaurants, leisure facilities and transport links to those visiting Ireland’s shores.
This vision could pay off for the region after new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) revealed that in the first seven months of this year Ireland had more than five and a half million visitors.
Overall, trips to Ireland were up 3.1 per cent compared to the same period in 2016.
Dublin has also seen an increase in annual overseas visitor numbers of close to 2.3 million since 2010.
Welcoming the latest figures, Dublin South West TD Colm Brophy (Fine Gael) said: “The tourism sector has played a crucial role in the Irish economic recovery.
“Measures such as the retention of the 9 per cent VAT rate on tourism services have been significant in helping our tourism sector weather the recession.”
He added: “The figures show that the number of North American and European visitors continues to surge ahead, despite a slight drop in numbers from the UK.
“In Dublin, the numbers employed in tourism continue to grow with an increase of 27,300 since 2011. These jobs are vital to our economy and communities.”
Speaking after the release of the report, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin said: “The figures confirm that 2017 is on target to be another year of growth for Irish tourism.
“I recently met with Tourism Ireland officials in London and explored options to make Ireland even more attractive to the potential UK visitor.”
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