The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has announced that trips to Ireland between July and August increased by more than 6%, up by over 123,500 on the same period last year. Total trips made totalled nearly 2.1 million.
Journeys from North America increased by more than 7%, while trips from the UK were up almost 5%.
The total number of overseas trips made by people living in Ireland dropped by 5%.
Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “The growth in overseas visitor numbers of 11% for the first eight months of the year is very good news for everyone in the tourism industry.
“These figures represent a welcome return to growth in overseas tourism; and this more positive picture is supported by anecdotal reports from our tourism industry partners around Ireland – although we know that distribution of visitors is uneven and some areas are performing better than others.”
“Following this encouraging growth in overseas visitors for the January-August period, current indications are that growth for the rest of this year may soften somewhat.”
Overseas tourism amounts to approximately €3.1bn (59%) of all tourism revenue.
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