The Irish are coming

What are you doing in the Irish market? It’s a question Australian operators should be asking themselves.

In the first four months of the year, 15,200 Irish visitors arrived in Australia – up 11 per cent on the same period last year.

Australia welcomed just under 60,000 Irish visitors to its shores in 2006, and 61 per cent of these were holidaymakers

It has been estimated that there has been a 100 per cent increase in the number of Irish holidaymakers heading for Australia and New Zealand over the space of just eight years.

The Irish are spending the equivalent of close to AUD 8 billion on overseas holidays each year as the result of high levels of disposable income – placing Ireland into the world's Top 10 countries for per capita travel spending.

Irish visitor expenditure in Australia last year came to AUD 0.3 billion (excluding package tours and prepaid international airfares). This represents an average spend of AUD 5,065 per visit and AUD 82 per night

The travel boom is largely focused on two age groups - 18 to 30-year-olds and 60 to 70-year-olds -- both of which have shown a huge increase in the frequency of foreign travel over the past decade, with the younger bracket more inclined to travel Down Under.

Irish visitors spent around 35 million visitor nights in Australia during the year ending December 2006 and the average duration of stay per visitor was 62 nights. Twenty-six of these nights were spent outside the major destinations and traditional gateways

Visitor arrivals from Ireland are expected to increase by 6 per cent per annum through to 2016.

One sure way of reaching the Irish market is through Selling Down Under, the on-line travel industry publication, which includes all the top producers in Ireland