The number of overseas visitors to the Republic in the first nine months of 2014 was over 9 per cent higher than the same period last year, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.

Over 5.9 million people visited the State between January and September, an increase of 9.3 per cent on last year.

The CSO also reported an increase in the number of Irish people taking holidays abroad, with over 4.5 million Irish residents taking trips overseas between July and September, an increase of 6 per cent on the same period last year.

The number of visitors to Ireland between July and September increased by 7.9 per cent, with a total of 2,440,400 visiting the State during the summer period.

The number of summer visitors from North America increased by 18.1 per cent to 490,000, while visits from Britain increased by 2 per cent to 922,600.

There was a rise of 9.5 per cent in the number of European visitors, excluding Britain, to 861,100.

The number of tourists visiting between July and September from other countries around the world, outside Europe and North America, increased by 7.7 per cent to 166,700.

The number of visitors from Britain in the first nine months increased by 8.8 per cent since 2013, while numbers from North America have risen by 13.9 per cent.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said the growing number of overseas visitors would help boost employment around the country.

“Given that overseas tourism business accounts for almost 60 per cent of all tourism revenue, this is good news indeed, with the increase in visitor numbers from overseas helping to boost employment around the country,” he said.

Mr Gibbons said he was “particularly pleased” to see the numbers from Britain, the State’s largest market, increasing by almost 9 per cent for the first nine months of 2014, with an additional 194,000 visitors.

He said 2014 was set to be another record year for tourism from North America.

The retention of the special 9 per cent tourism VAT rate in the latest Budget was welcomed earlier this month by the restaurant and hotels sectors, who described it as vital to sustaining jobs.

The Irish Hotels Federation said the measure was "one of the most successful job creation initiatives in modern times" having supported the creation of more than 33,000 new jobs since it was introduced in 2011.

It said tourism supports some 200,000 jobs - equivalent to one in every nine jobs in the country - representing some 54,000 jobs in 812 hotels and 235 guesthouses.

The total revenue generated across all tourism-related businesses annually stands at approximately €6 billion and accounts for 4 per cent of GNP.