Tourism Employment Rises 7.5% Over Year

14,000 extra people have found employment in the accommodation and food sector over the past year, according to the Department of Tourism.

The latest figures show the figure rose 7.5% from February to April, when compared to the corresponding period of 2013. There were 1.6m overseas visits to Ireland during the three-month period to the end of April.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said: "I'm delighted to see these strong figures, which are very encouraging as we enter the peak tourism season.

"Our marketing of Ireland overseas for 2014 is progressing well, and the recent very successful visit of the Giro D’Italia cycle race has provided us with a major publicity boost. Since the Government came to office, the number of international visitors coming to Ireland has increased by more than a million."

The Quarterly National Household Survey figures indicate that employment in the 'accommodation and food service activities' sector was 136,400 for the first quarter of 2014, compared with 122,400 in the same period last year, indicating a rise of 11.4%.

Comparing the three-month period from February to April 2014 with the same period in 2013, overall trips to Ireland were up by 7.5%. Visits from Great Britain were up 15.2%, while trips from mainland Europe rose 3.1%, with Germany (up 16.9%) and Spain (up 11.3%) performing particularly well.

Visits from North America were down by 4.6% and visits from the rest of the world increased by 7.0%.

Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring, added: "The figures indicate that Ireland continues to grow in popularity as a visitor destination.

"A key aspect of our tourism offering is the wide variety of festivals and events taking place throughout the year. I recently announced funding of over €0.5 million for 175 events throughout the country. These festivals generate additional tourist bednights and make cities, towns and villages all over Ireland memorable and enjoyable places to visit."

Fáilte Ireland CEO Shaun Quinn commented: "Today's figures are proof of a continued robust growth in overseas visitors and that's good news for tourism jobs and revenue. The figures for Great Britain in particular show a remarkable jump in visitors this year and that’s proof that our new strategy to target particular segments of that market is starting to pay dividends.

"Another factor at play is the improving value for money on offer in Ireland which is now enticing more British visitors and this reinforces the need for the sector to preserve its current blend of quality and good value in order to encourage even more growth."

(IT/JP)