Ryanair Calls on Irish Govt.

RNS Number : 0373X

Ryanair Holdings PLC

06 August 2009

CSO confirms continuing slump in visitor figures since Irish Government's €10 tourist tax introduced

Ryanair calls on Government to scrap €10 tourist tax now

Ryanair, the World's favourite airline, today (6th Aug 09) welcomed the CSO June traffic figures which confirm that 114,000 (15%) fewer visitors travelled to Ireland in June as the Government's €10 tourist tax continues to devastate Irish tourism. Ryanair's traffic in June grew by 13%, more than 670,000 new passengers, which disproves the Governments false claim that that this decline is due to the recession.

Ryanair warned that unless the Irish Government's €10 tourist tax is scrapped, then the fall in Irish visitor numbers will worsen next winter, as more flights, routes and services are cut from Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports.

Ryanair's Daniel de Carvalho said:

'CSO figures show a 15% drop in visitor numbers in June. The loss of these 114,000 visitors confirms that the collapse in Irish tourism is accelerating as the Irish Government's €10 tourist tax makes Ireland an uncompetitive tourist market.

'In recent months the Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish governments have all scrapped tourist taxes and/or reduced airport charges to zero in order to stimulate tourism. Ryanair has expanded in these countries including our recent announcement of 43 new routes to/from Spain this winter. The Irish Government cannot grow Irish tourism by taxing it. We must scrap this stupid €10 tourist tax and start welcoming visitors, not taxing them'.