Expenditure by inbound tourism to Ireland was €7.3 billion in pre-COVID-19 2019, with 96% of that figure coming from overnight visitors, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Details
The CSO said in a statement published on CSO.ie that domestic tourism expenditure by Irish residents reached €2.7 billion in 2019, with 79% of that figure coming from overnight visitors, while outbound expenditure on tourism by Irish residents reached €8.3 billion, with 1% of that figure coming from same-day trip.
Additionally, according to the CSO, there was estimated to be 284,800 full-time equivalent tourism sector employees in 2019, with these employees working in close to 46,000 tourism-related enterprises, and tourism direct gross value added (TDGVA) was estimated to be approximately €13.5 billion in 2019, which equalled a total a 4.4% gross value added (GVA) share in the Irish economy.
Statement By Statistician
The statement published on CSO.ie quoted statistician in the tourism and travel division Brendan Curtain as saying, "The figures in this new release published as part of the CSO Frontier Series, provide an overview of tourist activity and the importance of tourism to the Irish economy in 2019. This release uses an internationally recognised framework known as a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). Using this methodology means data on tourism in Ireland can be compared with other EU countries.
"For the EU-27 inbound tourism expenditure was worth €437 billion in 2019. Five countries (Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands) accounted for two-thirds (65%) of this expenditure, while Ireland had a 2% share.
"For Ireland overnight trips accounted for almost all expenditure on inbound and outbound tourism trips in 2019 (96% and 99% respectively). Across the EU same day trips accounted for 13% of expenditure on inbound tourism trips and 6% of outbound tourism trips.
"The per capita estimate of internal tourism consumption in Ireland was approximately €2,000 per inhabitant in 2019. This compares with an average value of €2,800 per inhabitant across the EU for internal tourism."
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