Restaurants Association concerned over drop of tourists coming to Ireland

Michael Bolton

There's a call for Government action over the fall in the number overseas tourists to Ireland.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland says there's been a drop of almost a third in the number of international visitors to these shores.

CSO tourism figures show the number of visitors dropped from 737,600 in August to 582,100 in September.

It was posted on social media about the 'grave impact' on restaurants' ability to keep their doors open. Restaurants Association Chief Executive, Adrian Cummins says it's going to cause hardship for the hospitality sector.

"The figures in terms of visitor numbers into the country has a knock-on affect in terms of the amount of spending in restaurants and cafe's  and the tourism industry at large.

"Also, it is having a big affect for 2024 also if we don't change the scenario. We are 32 per cent down in terms of the number of visitors to Ireland. That is a huge discrepancy in terms of where we should be for the economy and in terms of the tourism industry.

"That is something that needs be to be addressed by the Government with immediate effect."