Further Strong Growth In Overseas Visitor Numbers to Ireland
Overseas visitors to Ireland grew by a further 16% during the three months to the end of April, according to new CSO figures today.
The number of trips to Ireland during February, March and April came to 2.063 million – up from 1.779 million during the same period in 2015.
Trips to Ireland by residents of the UK – our largest overseas tourism market - rose by 18.6% to 958,100.
Trips by residents of mainland Europe were up 13.3% to 725,700, while visits by US residents increased by 19.9% to 284,800. Trips to Ireland from other areas around the globe rose by 1.5% to 94,000.
Meanwhile, the total number of overseas trips made by Irish residents during the period increased by 6.7% to 1.553 million.
Commenting on the figures, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said that they represent an excellent start to the year.
“Our aim is to ensure that 2016 is another record-breaking year for Irish tourism. Already we have seen an exceptional performance from North America for the period of February to April - up almost 20% on the same three months in 2015.”
Mr Gibbons said Ireland now welcomes 10% of all American visitors to Europe, which he described as particularly noteworthy given the intense competition from other destinations.
He added: “Mainland Europe has also turned in a stellar performance (+13%) – with important markets like Italy (+14%), Spain (almost 17%), France (+10%), Germany (+7.4%), the Nordic region (+11.5%) and Benelux (+31%), all showing record growth.”