Irish tourism industry looking for new horizons in 2015

Looking to further horizons, the Irish tourism industry is aiming to draw 10m visitors to Ireland in 2025, contributing €5bn to the economy and helping to sustain about 250,000 jobs. Following on the success of 2014, the tourism industry aims to build on this growth with a target of 7.74m visitors into Ireland in 2015, beating the previous record set in 2007. This will represent growth of 6% over 2014 and generate an extra €4bn to the economy next year.

A series of television adverts in a global advertising campaign will also be disclosed, as part of next year’s marketing plan. The ‘Jump Into Ireland’ ads will commence in January 2015 in 22 markets around the world — on television, in cinema and online. ‘Love Like This’, by popular Dublin rock band Kodaline is the soundtrack for the ads.

In 2015, sustaining growth into the future is at the heart of Tourism Ireland’s plan, and will prioritise those markets offering the best return on investment in terms of holiday visitors and revenue — Britain, North America and mainland Europe. Budding markets with high potential will also be targeted, mainly China and India, where Tourism Ireland will highlight the new British-Irish visa scheme. Buoyed by a growing consumer confidence in the domestic market and a steadily increasing staycation market, the Ireland image abroad continues to develop, helped by new initiatives like the Wild Atlantic Way.

With over 2.65m fans tourism Ireland is now the fourth most popular tourism board in the world on Facebook, and is number three on Twitter and number two on YouTube.

Next year has also been designated ID2015 — the year of Irish design — a showcase of the best of Irish designers and show how they reflect our unique Celtic culture.

Estimates show that 7.3m people have visited Ireland in 2014, representing an 8.8% increase over 2013, with growth recorded from all market areas. Revenue generated by international travellers is expected to be approximately €3.7bn, a 10.9% increase over last year.

New markets like Russia, China, Brazil, India, the Middle East and South Africa will greatly influence the future of Irish tourism. The drive to increase visitor numbers from these emerging markets is essential to the long-term development of the industry, and the recent Government decision on visas from China and India is very timely in assisting efforts to grow visitor numbers from those countries.

Recently Ireland and Britain signed an historic visa agreement that will permit international tourists to apply for one travel permit to visit both countries — which will apply initially to Chinese visitors and, subsequently, to those from India.