This would represent average yearly growth of around 6% and marks a significant increase on the more than €6 billion spent by overseas visitors in 2025. The projection comes as the organisation unveils its marketing strategy for the year ahead.
Chief executive Alice Mansergh said overseas tourism continues to play a vital role in supporting jobs and economic activity across the island of Ireland. She described the plans as ambitious, with a clear focus on supporting the tourism industry through 2026 while aligning with the Government’s long-term policy framework, A New Era for Irish Tourism.
Tourism Ireland acknowledged that visitor numbers and spending were weaker last year compared with 2024, largely due to wider economic uncertainty and operational challenges such as the Dublin Airport passenger cap early in the year. However, the organisation said performance improved significantly from August onwards, with consecutive months of visitor growth providing renewed confidence for the sector.
Looking ahead, Tourism Ireland plans an extensive programme of promotional activity across 15 key overseas markets. While the United States remains the most valuable market in terms of visitor spend, and Great Britain continues to deliver the highest volume of visitors, the organisation is seeking to broaden its reach. Canada has emerged as a strong growth market, while longer-term investment is being directed towards developing markets such as China and India. Ms Mansergh said recent visits to Shanghai and Beijing focused on building partnerships that could deliver future growth.
The marketing strategy also includes creating more opportunities for tourism businesses from across the island to travel overseas with Tourism Ireland to promote their products directly. Alongside this, there will be a renewed focus on thematic tourism offerings, including food and drink experiences, activity-based tourism and encouraging visitors to travel year-round and explore regions beyond traditional hotspots.
Promotional campaigns will target overseas audiences through a mix of advertising, broadcast television and streaming content, as well as digital, social media and AI-driven marketing.
The launch of the plans comes against a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, including discussions among European finance ministers around potential new US tariff threats. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ms Mansergh said such uncertainty can affect consumer confidence, with research showing that a quarter of overseas consumers last year felt conditions were too unstable to book a trip. However, she said there are positive signs, with two-thirds of consumers indicating that overseas holidays remain a priority despite financial pressures.
Tourism Ireland believes this resilience, combined with targeted investment and market diversification, will support sustained growth in overseas tourism in the years ahead.
