Long-term concerns as Irish-US tourism falls sharply
TRIPS between Ireland and the US have taken a massive hit in 2009.
The exodus of Irish bargain hunters heading stateside has also slumped, hitting passenger numbers in both directions.
Numbers on Aer Lingus' transatlantic flights have plummeted by 14pc so far this year, and the arrival of the summer season has not helped.
The figures for May showed an even more calamitous drop of 21pc.
In the first five months of the year the airline has carried 417,000 passengers on long-haul flights across the Atlantic, but that is down from 486,000 in the same period last year.
A spokesman for Aer Lingus said advance bookings were also down, prompting their decision to slash services from Shannon over the winter.
Their figures also show that transatlantic flights are only two-thirds full on average
The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation said that their estimate was for US tourist numbers to be down 13pc-14pc this year.
"We understand the position Aer Lingus is in in the short term given the state of the international aviation industry and the need for them to survive, but we are concerned about the uncertainty about whether these services will resume in the longer term," said ITIC chief executive Eamonn McKeon.
There was particular concern about flights to San Francisco, as the loss of a direct link to the west coast would be like cutting off a whole country for tourism in Ireland, he said.
Official CSO figures show North American visitor numbers to Ireland fell from 230,000 in the first four months of 2008 to 219,400 in the same period of 2009.
Their latest figures for Irish trips overseas show the number of such visits actually rose in the year to the end of 2008, although the length of these trips declined.
It is believed that many of these trips by Irish people were booked months before the recession began.
- Aideen Sheehan
