The number of tourists visiting Ireland has increased by 2.8 per cent over last year, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said today.
The CSO said 5,146,900 trips from overseas to Ireland in the first nine months of this year, compared to 5,008,800 for the same period last year.
Nearly 9 per cent more tourists from North America came to Ireland over the period. However, 1.3 per cent less people visited from Britain over the last nine months.
In total, there were 596,000 overseas trips into Ireland in September 2004, compared with 611,700 in the same month last year. This represents a decrease of 2.6 per cent.
Irish residents made 538,400 overseas trips in September 2004, an increase of 11.4 per cent on the figure of 483,100 in September 2003.
There were a total of 538,400 trips abroad from Ireland in September 2004, compared to 483,100 in the same month last year.