Dublin welcomed more than 6 million overseas tourists for the first time. They spent €2.1bn worth €1,500 per head of Dublin’s population Key Tourism Facts 2018 SEPTEMBER 2019 Research Contents Tourism Facts 2018 Tourism Numbers 2014–2018 Tourism Revenue 2014–2018 Regional Performance 2018 Overseas Tourists in 2018 Overseas Holidaymakers 2018 Domestic Tourism in 2018 The Tourism Product Attendance at popular visitor attractions in Ireland 2018 Quick definitions: Visitor: a traveller taking a trip to a destination outside his/her usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited Tourist: a visitor whose trip includes an overnight stay Holidaymaker: a tourist whose main reason for travelling is holiday/ leisure/recreation 55% of overseas tourists come here on holidays 1 US Tourists up 15% to 1.7 million, 8 th year of continuous growth. Click on this icon brings you back to first page
Transcript
Dublin welcomed more than
6 million
overseas tourists for
the first time. They spent
€2.1bnworth
€1,500per headof Dublin’s population
Key Tourism Facts 2018SEPTEMBER 2019
Research
Contents
Tourism Facts 2018
Tourism Numbers 2014–2018
Tourism Revenue 2014–2018
Regional Performance 2018
Overseas Tourists in 2018
OverseasHolidaymakers 2018
Domestic Tourismin 2018
The Tourism Product
Attendance at popular visitor attractions in Ireland 2018
Quick definitions:
Visitor: a traveller
taking a trip to a
destination outside
his/her usual
environment, for less
than a year, for any
main purpose other than to be
employed by a resident entity
in the country or place visited
Tourist:a visitor whose
trip includes an
overnight stay
Holidaymaker:
a tourist whose
main reason for
travelling is holiday/
leisure/recreation
55%of overseas
tourists
come here on
holidays
1
US Tourists up
15%to 1.7 million,
8th year ofcontinuous
growth.
Click on this icon brings you back to first page
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
In 2018, out-of-state (Overseas and North Ireland)
tourist expenditure amounted to €5.6 billion. With a
further €1.7 billion spent by overseas visitors on fares
to Irish carriers, foreign exchange earnings were €7.4
billion. Domestic tourism expenditure amounted to €2
billion, making tourism a €9.4 billion industry.
Before allowing for receipts paid to Irish air and sea
carriers by overseas tourists, the government earned
estimated revenue of €1.8 billion through taxation of
tourism. This grows to €2.2 billion when carrier receipts
are factored into the analysis, of which €1.7 billion came
from out-of-state tourism and the balance from domestic
tourism. In 2018 the tourism industry accounted for
4.0% of all tax revenue.
In 2018 the value of exported goods and services was
estimated at €396.4 billion of which €7.4 billion can
be directly attributed to tourism (i.e., foreign
exchange earnings), accounting for 1.9% of export
earnings. Being largely service based, tourism goods
have low import content in comparison to other
exports.
Total out-of-state expenditure,
inclusive of carrier receipts and
domestic tourism expenditure,
comes to €9.4 billion, which
represents 3.7% of GNP in
revenue terms.
Because tourism is characterised
by the fact that consumption takes
place where the service is available
and tourism activity is frequently
concentrated in areas which lack
an intensive industry base, it is
credited with having a significant
regional distributive effect.
DIRECT EMPLOYMENT IN THE TOURISM
AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
The Central Statistics Office’s official count of direct
employment in ‘Accommodation and food service
activities’, a category which includes hotels, restaurants,
bars, canteens and catering, was 181,200 in Q3 2018
(8% of total employment). This estimate of
employment is based on the CSO’s Household Survey
and the jobs identified are defined as ‘the respondent’s
main job’ and include both full-time and part-time.
Drawing on an alternative approach, an estimate of all
jobs in the tourism and hospitality industry based on
past Fáilte Ireland surveys of businesses (full-time,
part-time, seasonal/casual and not confined to ‘main’
job) indicates total employment in the sector at
approximately 260,000. This estimate includes an
additional category of tourism services and attractions
which is not covered by the CSO.
Research
Expenditure by tourists visiting Ireland (excluding receipts paid toIrish carriers by foreign visitors) was estimated to be worth €5.6 billionin 2018, this represents growth of 6% on 2017. Combining spending by international tourists with the money spent by Irish residents taking trips here and receipts paid to Irish carriers by foreign visitors, total tourism expenditure in 2018 was estimated to be €9.4 billion.
Overseas tourists to Ireland in 2018 grew by 6.5% to 9.6 million. Overseas tourists from Britain grew by 1% while our other markets continue to grow at a stronger rate. Mainland Europe recorded growth of 7.8%. North America also performed very strongly, increasing by 14.5%. The long haul markets have also increased by 7.8% in 2018.
Mainland Europe accounts for 36.5% of our overseas tourists, however, Britain is still our largest individual market with 36.2% of overseas tourists to Ireland. Some 20.4% come from North America and the balance, 6.8%, comes from other long haul markets. Revenue from Mainland Europe and North America equates to 35.4% and 33.5% of overseas tourism revenue respectively. British tourists account for 19.6% of overseas tourism spend in Ireland with 11.5% spent by other long haul tourists.
2
The economic benefit of tourism
Where did Ireland’s tourists come from?Research
1. Revised by NISRA May 2015
2. 2012-2015 domestic data revised due to new methodological approach by CSO, August 2016
3. 2016 domestic data revised by CSO, December 2017
Tourist Numbers(000s)
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Change18 vs 17
Britain 3,007 3,346 3,632 3,445 3,480 1.0%
Mainland Europe 2,490 2,880 3,102 3,256 3,512 7.8%
Source surveys are designed to measure area of residence groupings (bold figures). Figures in italics are indicative of approximate overall market size but do not provide a sufficient level of precision to accurately reflect absolute market size or trends over time.
Source: CSO/Fáilte Ireland/TSB, NISRA
3
How much money did they spend?Research
Revenue (€m) 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Change
18 vs 17
Britain 926.7 1,017.9 1,109.8 1,046.5 1,024.8 -2%
Mainland Europe 1,301.2 1,555.3 1,657.5 1,763.0 1,845.8 5%
North America 940.3 1,199.7 1,337.4 1,525.5 1,746.7 15%
Other Overseas 428.1 492.6 533.3 588.9 599.9 2%
TOTAL OVERSEAS 3,596.4 4,265.3 4,638.0 4,923.9 5,217.3 6%
