By Business & Finance 
Tourism Ireland aims to surpass this year’s record performance in overseas tourism and to welcome 8.2 million visitors to Ireland in 2016, delivering €4.4bn to the Irish economy next year.
Building on this year’s success and sustaining growth into the future is at the heart of Tourism Ireland’s strategy for 2016.
Following the success of the Wild Atlantic Way, a new ad highlighting Tourism Ireland’s latest tourism experience, Ireland’s Ancient East, was also unveiled, which will be marketed throughout 2016.
Paschal Donohoe TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, said: “Our policies on the air travel tax and VAT have helped to improve the value on offer for our visitors. The overall tourism goal of Government – as expressed in our Tourism Policy Statement – is that by 2025, revenue from overseas visitors, excluding carrier receipts, will increase to €5bn net of inflation. We aim to have 10 million visits to Ireland annually by 2025 and 250,000 people employed in the tourism sector, compared to 205,000 at present. In August I appointed a new Tourism Leadership Group, which will identify the specific actions required over the period 2016-2018 in order to achieve the longer-term goals in the Tourism Policy Statement. These actions will be contained in a Tourism Action Plan to be published early next year.”
Latest estimates indicate that, by year end, 7.9 million people will have visited Ireland in 2015, representing an 11% increase over 2014, with growth recorded from all markets. Revenue generated by international visitors is expected to be almost €4.2 billion, a 16% increase over last year.
Niall Gibbons, CEO, Tourism Ireland, commented: “2015 is set to be the best year ever for Irish tourism. Thousands of opportunities were created for potential visitors around the world to read, hear or watch positive messages about Ireland; Tourism Ireland estimates that this media exposure is worth an estimated €320 million in equivalent advertising value. Following a successful 2015, ambitious targets have been set again for 2016 and beyond. We will unveil Ireland’s Ancient East around the world, while continuing to place a major focus on the Wild Atlantic Way.”
