The number of people visiting Ireland fell by 44,000 this summer compared with the same period last year, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office published yesterday. Between June and August, 2.12 million business and leisure trips were made to Ireland by foreign visitors, down 2 per cent on 2011.
The biggest decline was in visitors from the UK – down by 6 per cent to 839,800. The number of trips taken by people from the US was also down significantly, by 2.8 per cent to 365,300. Visitors from the UK still made up the largest cohort, followed by Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Visits from residents of other European countries increased 2.1 per cent to 787,900, while people coming from the rest of the world to Ireland rose 3.3 per cent to 129,800.
The number of foreign journeys taken by Irish people this summer was up 1.5 per cent, to 2,075,300. Fewer people took domestic holidays in Ireland, bringing the number of trips taken by Irish people to almost 4.2 million, down 0.3 per cent on last year.
