Irish people made a record 5.4 million trips abroad last year, with North America and mainland Europe among the most popular destinations.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CS0) show that more than three million trips were for holidays, 670,000 for business and 1.3 million for visits to friends or relatives.
Some 300,000 more people travelled to mainland Europe last year than in 2003, with 50,000 more travelling on transatlantic flights.
The figures also show there were more than 6.5 million overseas visits to Ireland last year, an increase of 3 per cent and an all-time high.
While the number of trips by Irish abroad increased, the length of the visits reduced to 8.5 nights last year compared with 9.3 in 2003. Similarly, visitors to Ireland who stayed overnight spent an average of 7.5 nights compared with 7.8 in 2003.
Visitor numbers from Britain, traditionally Ireland's largest tourist market, were slightly down when compared with 2003. However, this was compensated for by a 7 per cent increase in visitors from continental Europe and an 8 per cent increase in visitors from North America.
There were 3.7 million visitors to Ireland in 2004 from Britain, with a further 1.6 million visiting from other European countries. Some 977,000 visitors to Ireland came from the US and Canada, while 317,000 came from other areas.
Of those choosing to visit Ireland, 3.4 million cited holiday, leisure or recreation as the reason for their journey. Some 1.8 million said they came here to visit friends or relatives, while 926,000 cited business as the reason for their visit.
However, Irish tourists spent more money abroad than foreign visitors to Ireland in 2004. Although earnings from visitors to Ireland increased by €19 million, accounting for €4.076 billion last year, expenditure by Irish visitors abroad amounted to €4.180 billion.
This represents a shortfall of €104 million. However, it does not include the amount generated by domestic tourism, estimated at some €1 billion.
The vast majority of visitors to Ireland do so for at least one night. But the total number of bednights spent in Ireland by overseas visitors fell by 1 per cent or some 250,000 when compared with 2003.
Some 13 million nights were spent with relatives or friends, followed by 10.6 million spent in hotel accommodation last year. At seven million, the number of nights spent in guest houses or B&Bs witnessed a small decrease. The rented house/apartment sector continues to account for more than 8.8 million nights annually.
The statistics are based on two surveys of passengers carried out by the CSO at major airports and seaports on a continuous basis.
Minister for Tourism John O'Donoghue yesterday welcomed the figures, and said they confirmed a growth of over 3 per cent in overseas visitors to Ireland last year.
When combined with CSO figures for the domestic market, they showed a tourism sector worth €5 billion annually to the economy.