Irish tourism bounces back to 75pc of 2019 levels

Irish tourism has bounced back stronger than expected across 2022, and is expected to reach 75pc of 2019 levels by year end.

Data gathered by Tourism Ireland shows international travel rebounded more quickly than anticipated this year, with factors like pent-up demand for travel, deferred bookings and accumulated savings leading to a “surge in travel to Ireland”.

The tourism body said air and sea capacity has also returned at a faster rate than expected, with air capacity for this winter at “102pc of air capacity in winter 2019”.

In 2019, 11.3 million overseas visitors came to Ireland and generated revenue of over €5.9bn for the economy.

Tourism Ireland Chief Executive Niall Gibbons said the organisation’s 2022 priority was to restart overseas tourism to the island of Ireland, and it is encouraging “to see that the year is expected to finish at around 75pc of 2019 business”.

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Catherine Martin said after an “extremely challenging” couple of years for the industry, international travel to Ireland has rebounded strongly in 2022. 

"I must commend Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and all our tourism partners for their concerted efforts in this regard.

"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,” she added. 

"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.”

Tourism Ireland warned the industry is facing a number of challenges including labour shortfalls, currency fluctuations and the rising cost of doing business.

However, it said the latest figures give cause for optimism for overseas tourism next year.

It said research carried out in 10 important tourism markets shows that the desire to travel is “stronger than ever” and seven out of ten 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”.

It comes as Tourism Ireland is mounting its “biggest-ever presence” at World Travel Market (WTM) in London this week. 

The organisation is hosting over 100 tourism companies from Ireland at its stand.