Irish tourists holidaying abroad outspent foreigners visiting Ireland by €72 million during the peak summer months last year.

It was the first time on record that Irish holidaymaker spend surpassed tourism revenues and came amid a 2.2 per cent downturn in the numbers travelling here in the crucial July-to-September season, the Central Statistics Office said.

Ominously, the North America market continued to bottom out, slumping 10.3 per cent over the third quarter of 2001. Continental visitors decreased by 4.7 per cent. Traffic from Britain remained static for the quarter but rose moderately in the nine months to the end of September.

In contrast, the number of Irish tourists visiting abroad soared 8.7 per cent to 1.5 million with holidaymakers spending nearly €1,490 million on their travels.

Tourism Ireland said the decline in summer visitors was disappointing and warned its target of a 5 per cent upturn this year would be seriously threatened by the outbreak of war in the Gulf. The agency cautioned that transatlantic tourism was likely to contract severely should conflict erupt in the Middle East.

It also expressed unease at the continued decrease in the average length of time spent by visitors, which dwindled by 20 per cent.

Rising prices had damaged competitiveness and threatened positive word of mouth, a factor crucial to future buoyancy, said Mr Paul White, Tourism Ireland research director.

Mr Brendan Leahy, chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, said the UK figures were not as strong as it first thought. An increase in the first quarter of 2002 was an "artificial" one, given the problems with foot-and-mouth in the corresponding period the previous year.

"We look at that peak period of July-September for the best estimate of how the industry is doing. That shows the UK figures fairly static compared to the previous year, which is a worrying sign."

The Government sought to put a positive spin on the results, noting that year-on-year tourist numbers had risen marginally by the end of the third quarter. Any growth was commendable in light of deepening international instability, said the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue.

"The last two years have shown that the Irish tourism industry is resilient and will rally well in the face of difficult and challenging times," he said.