DUBLIN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The total number of trips to Ireland made by overseas residents in July edged down by 0.5 percent to slightly below 1.16 million, an overall decrease of 5,400 compared to a year earlier, said the country's national statistics bureau CSO on Thursday.
In July, trips by residents of Britain increased by 0.6 percent to 355,500 while trips by residents of European countries other than Britain dipped by 0.7 percent to 419,700, said the CSO, adding that trips by residents of the United States and Canada to Ireland in the month went down by 2.7 percent to 291,200, while trips to Ireland from other parts of the world increased by 4.1 percent to 88,700.
In the seven months to the end of July 2019, the total number of trips to Ireland by overseas residents increased by 2.8 percent to 6.2 million when compared with the same period in 2018, it said.
Commenting on the CSO figures, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said that "the month of July has shown a continuing weak trend" while "the figures for January to July indicate a very mixed picture."
"Feedback from industry partners on the ground suggests weaker demand in the peak summer season," he said, adding that Tourism Ireland's 12-million-euro (about 13 million U.S. dollars) autumn campaign is under way to attract more visitors to Ireland.
He said that the discontinuation and suspension of several international flight routes and the suppressed demand by British visitors to Ireland due to the fall in the value of British pound were part of the reasons for a weaker market in July.
Britain is the largest source of visitors to Ireland among all the countries.
Tourism Ireland is an agency jointly funded by the governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland of Britain to be responsible for attracting tourists to the island of Ireland.
Last year, an estimated 11.2 million overseas residents visited the island of Ireland, of which over 10 million people were received by Ireland, according to Tourism Ireland.
