Overseas visitors to Ireland were up 8 per cent in the last quarter of 2006 compared to the same period the previous year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
There were 1,701,000 overseas visitors to Ireland between October and December 2006, compared to 1,574,000 in the same period of 2005.
A couple of tourists consult their maps outside Trinity College in Dublin.
Visitor numbers from other European countries increased by 21 per cent in the same period, while visitors from the United States and Canada grew by 10 per cent over 2005 figures.
Visits by UK residents grew by a modest 1 per cent, while visits from residents of other areas rose from 62,000 in the last quarter of 2005 to 71,000 in the last quarter of 2006.
A total of 1,530,000 Irish people travelled abroad between October and December 2006, an increase of 16 per cent on the corresponding period in 2005.
Earnings from visitors to Ireland accounted for €983 million, while expenditure by Irish visitors abroad amounted to €1.18 billion.