{"id":612770,"date":"2026-09-03T01:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T01:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/612770\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T01:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T01:16:12","slug":"overseas-tourism-to-ireland-grows-despite-spending-remaining-below-2024-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/612770\/","title":{"rendered":"Overseas tourism to Ireland grows despite spending remaining below 2024 levels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ireland welcomed almost 3.9 million overseas visitors in the first seven months of 2026, a 13% increase on the same period last year, according to the latest Central Statistics Office figures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, tourism spending remains below 2024 levels, raising concerns about the value being generated by the increase in visitor numbers.<\/p>\n<p>The figures come as <a href=\"https:\/\/businessplus.ie\/media-plus\/40-under-40-rhona-bergin\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/businessplus.ie\/media-plus\/40-under-40-rhona-bergin\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ireland\u2019s tourism industry<\/a> faces rising operating costs, changing travel patterns and growing competition from other European destinations.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"855\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Eoghan-OMara-Walsh-CEO-ITIC.jpg\" alt=\"Eoghan OMara Walsh CEO ITIC\" class=\"wp-image-1807896\"  \/>Eoghan O\u2019Mara Walsh, CEO, ITIC, at the launch of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) Annual Conference 2026. Pic: Brian McEvoy<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ITIC CEO Eoghan O\u2019Mara Walsh said the figures provided \u2018cause for cautious optimism\u2019 but warned that recent growth could not be taken for granted.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There is growing evidence that the tourism season is softening and we have still not moved beyond 2024 revenue levels,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<p>In July, 676,300 overseas visitors travelled to Ireland, while international visitors spent \u20ac681 million \u2014 up 9% year-on-year.<\/p>\n<p>Tourism contributes \u20ac11.2 billion annually to the Irish economy, generates \u20ac3.3 billion in tourism-related taxes and supports around 229,400 jobs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"858\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ITIC-CONFERENCE-LAUNCH-25.jpg\" alt=\"ITIC CONFERENCE LAUNCH 25\" class=\"wp-image-1807894\"  \/>Eoghan O\u2019Mara Walsh, CEO, ITIC, Alice Mansergh, CEO, Tourism Ireland,Caroline Bocquel, CEO, F\u00e1ilte Ireland and David McNamara, Chief Economist, AIB, at the launch of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) Annual Conference 2026. Pic: Brian McEvoy<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Mara Walsh welcomed the lifting of the <a href=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2026\/03\/18\/news\/irish-news\/dublin-airport-cap-2\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2026\/03\/18\/news\/irish-news\/dublin-airport-cap-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin Airport passenger cap<\/a> and highlighted a new China Eastern service from Shanghai as an example of Ireland diversifying its tourism markets.<\/p>\n<p>But he said the key challenge was now increasing the value of tourism.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The next question for Irish tourism is not simply how many people come here, but how we grow the value of tourism sustainably,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<p>He called for greater efforts to encourage visitors to stay longer, travel outside peak season and spend in towns and communities across the country.<\/p>\n<p>The challenges facing the sector will be discussed at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itic.ie\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.itic.ie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">ITIC Annual Conference<\/a> at The Convention Centre Dublin on 1 October.<\/p>\n<p>The conference, themed \u2018Adjust, Adapt, Accelerate: Irish Tourism in Uncertain Times\u2019, will bring together figures including Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke TD, Tourism Ireland CEO Alice Mansergh, F\u00e1ilte Ireland CEO Caroline Bocquel, US Ambassador to Ireland Edward S. Walsh and AIB Chief Economist David McNamara.<\/p>\n<p>Discussions will focus on Ireland\u2019s tourism competitiveness, the economy, international markets, AI, workforce changes and the future of the sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland welcomed almost 3.9 million overseas visitors in the first seven months of 2026, a 13% increase on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-612770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}