TOURISTS NUMBERS to Ireland are down over 23% in May, with visitors from our nearest neighbours, Britain down over 30%.

The latest figures from the CSO (Central Statistics Office) show that 155,000 less trips were taken to Ireland by overseas residents, compared to May 2009. Tourist numbers from North American dropped by over 16%, while visits from Europeans dropped by almost 20%.

The numbers are similar to the decline experienced in April due to the presence of the Ash cloud.

Visits out of the country, by Irish residents are also down with 29,400 fewer trips being made, a 4.8% decline.

The announcement comes just a week after the IATA announced that international-air-traffic has increased with an increase of 7.8% in the numbers flying in Europe. No doubt the figures will give credence to Ryanair’s call to drop the government’s €10 tourist tax.

Tourism Minister Mary Hanafin announced the establishment of a group which will look at the recovery of the country’s tourism industry.

“Clearly the very difficult conditions, including economic uncertainty, bad weather and the Icelandic volcanic ash, continued to put pressure on the Irish tourist industry in the first months of 2010,” she told The Irish Times.