The value of overseas tourists to Ireland can grow beyond the five point three billion euro spend recorded this year.
However the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation say accommodation and airport capacity constraints will be a major stumbling block.
20% of hotel and guest house beds are currently contracted to Government to house asylum seekers and refugees.
However the Chief Executive of the ITIC, Eoghan O’Meara Walsh says the tourism sector still had a decent 2023, and it will have to show the same resilience in 2024:
"We estimate international tourists spent about €5.3 billion this year, which obviously is very, very important to the economy. There were 254,000 people who worked in tourism and hospitality businesses up and down the length and breadth of the country. So it's the largest indigenous industry, the biggest regional employer. In 2023, the industry showed its robustness, but I do think an element of that robustness and resilience is going to be needed in 2024 as well".
