Ireland is continuing to deliver holidays that match expectations of overseas' tourists, according to Bord Failte's latest visitor attitude survey.
One third of visitors said their experiences here surpassed their expectations, and just 4% were disappointed.
The visitor attitudes survey has been carried out every year since the 1980s and shows general trends in key areas of satisfaction. While foot and mouth restrictions hit the tourism industry hard with the first drop in visitor numbers in a decade, it does not seem to have adversely affected the attitudes of those visitors that did make it here.
The survey revealed that 88% of tourists declared themselves very satisfied with the friendliness encountered during their stay. However, one in four tourists expressed concern about road conditions and poor directional sign-posting.
'The results of the 2001 survey shows that Ireland still has its essentials right, in spite of the great pressures experienced by the industry during the year,' Niall Reddy, Acting Chief Executive of Bord Failte said.
Almost six million visitors came to Ireland last year, including over 900,000 from the US, 3.3 million from the UK and 1.3 million from the rest of Europe.
