As the curtain fell on a record year for Irish tourism, the storm clouds were gathering like never before. “2018 is set to be another record year for Irish tourism, surpassing all previous records and coming on the back of a number of years of strong growth,” said Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland chief executive, as the good news was announced in the run-up to Christmas. Almost as soon as the electorate in the UK voted to leave the EU, the difficulties such a move would pose for the Irish tourism sector were identified. Britain is bigger in volume terms and responsible for €1.45 billion in revenue compared with about €1.2 billion from mainland Europe. That is, he says, a “really significant risk to the industry because our relationship with the UK is incredibly complex”.

Source: The Irish Times January 05, 2019 06:11 UTC