The number of tourists visiting Ireland has increased more than 15 percent in the second quarter in comparison to last year’s figures for the same period, proving that Queen Elizabeth and U.S. President Barack Obama’s visits to Ireland bolstered tourism in the country.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that almost 1.8 million people visited Ireland from April to June of this year, representing an eight percent increase in tourists visiting from the UK.
The number of tourists visiting from North America increased by 17 percent to 308, 800.
Queen Elizabeth made her historic visit to Ireland in May for seven days. The following week, on May 23 President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama made their inaugural trip to Ireland. The two official state visits triggered worldwide media coverage.
Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said they figures were encouraging.
"Anecdotal reports from our industry partners around ... Ireland confirm a more positive picture overall than this time last year," he said.
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"However, we know that distribution of visitors is uneven, with some areas performing better than others. The current outlook for North America, mainland Europe and emerging markets is positive for the coming months.
"The economic situation in Britain remains fragile and we are keeping the market under close review."
Minister of State for Tourism Michael Ring said the number of Irish residents who have been holidaying at home shows that people are “rediscovering what makes Ireland special as a place to go on holiday”.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Trealach | Aug 24, 2011, 05:42 PM EDT
What a joke. 1.8million visited between April and June - yet the queen and Obama arrived in the middle. Don't people realise that vacations are planned in advance? The figures have absolutely NOTHING to do with the state visits. Let's see what the next quarterly figures produce, then we will have some indication.
Towngate | Aug 24, 2011, 01:19 PM EDT
SeamusMor: Talking of promotional Films: Maummar Ghaddafi had the same idea when he made the star-studded "Lion of the Desert" with Rod Steiger and Anthony Quinn to unite the Libyan people and honour a Rebel hero of the eastern region, who drove the (Italian) occupiers out. Funny how things work out! There are plenty of 'tourists' there now; and I predict they will be harder to get rid of,than the Italians were! ~~~ Warning: a Brian Boru film might reignite bad feelings among 'Irish' tribes and lead to the same catastrophe!
Searlit | Aug 24, 2011, 12:54 PM EDT
I would love to see a movie about Brian Boru, only they better get (his)story, right. It would be a huge insult, not to.
Sparklet | Aug 24, 2011, 11:23 AM EDT
SeamusMor, you've got my tongue hanging out for sure.
stephendoyle | Aug 24, 2011, 10:51 AM EDT
I think it is more about getting value for their dollar than comming here because Obama or the queen did. The Euro has dropped quite a bit recently. Asl might be a bit of the disporia wanting to visit/help their native land........
mrkennedy | Aug 24, 2011, 10:45 AM EDT
I give more credit to the Queen as it has been a long time since a British Queen or King has visited Ireland!!
SeamusMor | Aug 24, 2011, 10:22 AM EDT
Make Morgan LLywellyn's international best selling novel "Lion of Ireland", about the life, times, and legend of Brian Boru into a movie, and millions more will come to Ireland. 18% of tourists who come to Ireland do so because of something they have seen in a film. With the breath taking beauty of Ireland as a back drop, the story of the greatest Irish King would be a virtual commercial for tourism!
SeamusMor | Aug 24, 2011, 10:16 AM EDT
Make Morgan Llywellyn's international best selling novel,"Lion of Ireland" about the life, times, and legend of Bran Boru, and millions more will come. 18% of tourists come to Ireland because of something they have seen in a film. With the breath taking beauty of Ireland as a back drop, the story of Ireland's greatest King would be a virtual commercial for the tourism industry.