Tourism Ireland recently announced that it is looking to attract a record of 7.74 million visitors to Ireland next year. This will be the highest level of people taking a vacation in Ireland since 2007 and would result in a growth of up to 6% delivering €4 billion to the economy.
The Minister of State for Tourism & Sport, Michael Ring TD has announced that funding of €1.945m has been approved by Failte Ireland within its National Festivals and Events Programme for 16 of the country’s national festivals and events in 2015.
Minister Michael Ring explained the significance of such funding, “Festivals and events are the lifeblood of tourism and are as much part of our appeal to visitors as the beauty of our landscapes and the friendliness of our people. Ensuring that we will have a rich variety of spectacle and experiences throughout the country and all year round next year, the funding announced today will provide a key component of our work in 2015 to grow visitor activity towards record levels”.
The approved festivals being funded includes:
- St Patrick’s Festival, Dublin – €1m
- Galway Arts Festival– €200k
- Dublin Horse Show – €150k
- Wexford Festival Opera – €100k
- Fleadh Cheoil 2015 Sligo – €90k
- Kilkenny Arts Festival – €70k
- Cork International Choral Festival – €45k
- Cat Laughs Comedy Festival – €40k
- Cork MidSummer Festival – €25k
- Templebar Tradfest – €45k
- West Cork Chamber Music Festival – €40k
- Sea Sessions Donegal– €40k
- Rory Gallagher Festival – €40k
- Bike Fest – €30k
- Writers Week – €20k
- Cuirt – €10k
The Irish tourism board also recently launched its marketing plans in which it has planned to attract 7.74 million visitors planning to take a trip to Ireland in 2015. Implementation of the plan would lead to an annual growth of up to 6% in people taking a vacation in Ireland and would bring an estimated €4 billion in revenue to the Irish economy in 2015, a figure which would exceed that of the previous record back in 2007.
Other recent statistics show that there is also a 3.5% increase in tourism revenue from visitors originating in the UK from visitors as well as a 14.1% increase in visitors from North America.