Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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277. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the extent to which any particular sectors of the tourism sector to date in 2017 have shown particular potential for growth with consequent economic benefit in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14518/17]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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2016 was a record year for overseas tourism to Ireland with a total of 9,584,400 visits representing a 10.9% increase on 2015, or an additional 941,300 visits.  The CSO tourism data available for 2017 shows that the number of overseas visits between November 2016 and January 2017 increased by 7.2% compared to the corresponding period of November 2015 to January 2016.

Research carried out on behalf of the tourism agencies and tourism industry has found that certain market segments have a higher likelihood to select Ireland as a destination. Tourism Ireland's overseas marketing activity is weighted towards these segments in order to provide the best return on marketing investment.

In addition, the tourism brand experiences that have been developed by Fáilte Ireland, like the "Wild Atlantic Way", "Ireland's Ancient East", and  "Dublin – A Breath of Fresh Air" – are all designed to meet the needs of the most promising consumer segments in overseas source markets.